Swiftcurrent Creek walk the line

Kas would like to meet a few Creek wolves! :)

If she had been any other wolf, the swift changes in her life these past months would have overwhelmed her. However, her parents had raised her to take things in stride, to be strong and independent, so the rapidly shifting ranks of Swiftcurrent Creek were taken in stride. Kaskara was proud of her brother's new rank as Beta, something she knew Scim was proud of as well, especially if it meant being nearer Bazi. They hadn't spoken of it, but Kas could tell there was something between the two of them.

The changes in the leadership had been interesting to watch, though Kas had never known Fox and therefore wasn't necessarily effected by her departure. Sure, things weren't as smooth as expected, but Bazi was doing the best she could under the circumstances. Kas had pledged her loyalty to the small woman, a promise she took very seriously despite the alpha's younger age. If anybody questioned Bazi's right as alpha, they would not only have to answer to Kaskara, they would answer to Scimitar as well. The pair of siblings were quite a sight, being as brawny and versed in battle as they were.

Kas found herself sitting by the creek's edge that morning, simply enjoying the sunlight on her dark fur. They had found their lost pack members, Fox was accounted for, and there seemed to be a tentative truce between themselves and the Sunspire wolves. For now, Kaskara could relax, and she intended on taking full advantage of the opportunity.

Bazi came to from her first good night's sleep in days, and felt a thousand times better for it. She allowed herself the luxury of a lazy morning, stretching and preening in the privacy of the Womens' Glade, where she took some time to reflect on what life would be like without Tuwawi and Njal. She could scarcely imagine losing the former. Even imagining it made it feel as though a hole had been punched through her chest. Not ready yet, Bazi thought, drank her fill of water, and made her way swiftly to the river's edge for a breakfast of white meat.

She found Kaskara there, basking in the August sunshine. The dark warrior seemed fit and healthy again after her sudden expulsion from.. from where, exactly? Bazi had it in her mind to leave Kaskara to her sunbathing, but curiosity changed her course. She sped up to a gallop, slowed on a approach, and came to a stop perpendicular to the seated female. "Hi," she chirped with a few brisk wags of her tail. "So.. you came at a bit of a dramatic time. Have you eaten today? I'm starved." It was going to take some time to get used to light conversation - especially as this was Scimitar's sister, which meant not only making a good impression as a leader, but also as a potential sister-in-law.

Hope you don't mind me joining :)

Shadow was tired, he hadn't been able to sleep last night. He had been lying by the creek's edge staring at the stars that glittered and shone across the sky, thinking. And only at early morning did he retire to his den to sleep and only after a few hours or so he woke up again, irritated and tired, and hungry. And hunger gnawed at his belly, he couldn't sleep with his belly growling every few seconds could he?

The ashen male decided to eat before going to sleep again and he was going to get easy meat, or at least easy meat for him. Fish. He made his way out of the den to the creek, eyes darting rather warily. Then he noticed two other Creek wolves. One he did not know and the other, the new Alphess. Why did it have to be them? He stared into the Creek's waters and his own disheveled look stared back.

Should he greet them or not? They would probably notice him anyways. After all he was only a few pawsteps away from them.

Kas was enjoying the sunshine when a familiar scent rose on the air and she opened her eyes to see a familiar figure approach, give a few chirps of greeting, and settle into a semi-awkward conversation. Kaskara nodded respectfully toward her alpha, her lips hitched up in a bemused smirk. "Either I follow trouble or it follows me," she replied to the alpha's first remark, flicking an ear back to listen to another's footfalls.

She turned her dark head toward the other, knowing him from the pack meetings, but not quite remembering his name. Without speaking to him, she turned back to Bazi. "I haven't eaten yet. Shall we fish?" She stood, shaking her fur of any loose grass or small twigs, and bobbed her head in the other wolf's direction. "Do you want to include him, too?" Kas deferred completely to Bazi, especially now she was the alpha, and in this matter it was neither here nor there if they included the shadowed male. She would meet him eventually, though she wasn't going to ignore his presence, either.

Once again, Bazi's attempts at cheerful conversation came up short, though it was not quite so spectacular a failure as her early exchanges with Shadow. It no longer felt natural to be SUPER PEPPY and ALWAYS ON and GO TEAM FISH AND STUFF - had she ever been like that? How? The mere thought of spending an entire day in falsely high spirits deflated the Alpha like a sad, blow-up mattress for less loved guests and snuffed out the glow in her eyes. Her ears fell loosely back, one swivelling more acutely to catch the sound of a third wolf arriving.

"I d'no about that," she grumbled rather less excitedly at her pack-mate's remark, "Sometimes I think 'up shit's creek' was named for this very particular one." She had time to nod at the other girl's suggestion before spotting Shadow. Her heart sank. Not only were their interactions stilted - he was doing rather a lot of Ferdie-esque brooding, and it made it very hard for Bazi to view him as anything other than a ticking time-bomb. But you cannot very well walk up to someone and ask when they are going to descend into child-killing mania. That wasn't the done thing.

"Sure," she lied, and in a slightly raised voice called tersely to Shadow: "Hey, Shadow - are you going to fish with us, or stare at your own sour mug all day?"

So much for chirpy.

The silver male swiveled his ear to listen to the conversation going on with the two females and raised an eyebrow. Who pissed in her cereal? She seemed to be in a really bad mood.

"Hey, Shadow - are you going to fish with us, or stare at your own sour mug all day?" Wow, the ashen male rolled his eyes and called back "No idea." but grudgingly trotted towards the two girls, the black tip of his tail flicking slowly. His gaze scanned the female that he did not know, he didn't remember her name either. As if anyone bothered to tell him the names of the new wolves.

Finally he turned to the Alphess and smirked, his silvery eyes gleaming before turning back to the other female whose name he did not know "Hey, shall we fish?" politely.

Bazi wasn't one to mince words, which Kaskara appreciated. Their first meeting hadn't been under the best of circumstances, but now that things had (finally) settled down, Kaskara hoped to get to know Bazi for herself, not just as her leader. The dark warrior snorted at the woman's words about the creek, wondering if indeed they could be calling it "shitcurrent creek" instead. She didn't say anything, however, when the white dove called the male over, a hint of a lie beneath her words.

Kas didn't know anything about the undercurrents of pack politics, but she could sense some tension between Bazi and this new wolf, the ashen male. Having just lost their previous alpha and possibly two other high-standing wolves, Kaskara didn't want to step on anybody's toes or cause a scene. However, now that the male was here, she had to introduce herself and be polite. Plus, it would be good to know another face in the pack. "I'm Kaskara," she said as he joined them, nodding as he suggested they fish. "That would be great. Bazi was just saying how hungry she is."

This is set before the Bazi/Shadow thread, so I will act as though none of that has happened yet. :D

Attitude, and on an empty stomach to boot. Bazi's lip twitched, but she somehow managed to swallow every last one of the venomous words that clamoured loudly for their ten seconds of fame. "I was, wasn't I," she agreed tightly, and turned back to face the river. Light glittered on the surface - irritating. It would make it difficult to tell fish from reflections.

"What was the name of the pack you came from, Kaskara..?" she asked, wading into the river until the water reached her knees. Scimitar's sister hadn't come from the Sunspire, or Jinx's pack.. then where? Bazi had the distinct feeling that there was gossip to be had, but failed to recall the connection between Kaskara and Peregrine - Alpha of Blacktail Deer Plateau and (unbeknownst to the Swiftcurrent wolves) mate to Fox.

xD, sorry if this post doesn't make sense, I can't think clearly.

So her name was Kaskara. the ashen male waded into the Creek behind Bazi, silver eyes narrowed trying to spot the fish under the water. It was so damn hard telling where the fish was under all those reflections, and the tiredness emitting off him did not help at all. But still he tried to keep his mood light despite the circumstances.

His gaze wandered through the water, listening half-heartedly at their conversation. He had no intent to join in, after all he didn't even know who this Kaskara was, didn't know how she got accepted, only caught her name just now. Best listen first to see what the dark female had to say, and judge her later.

The tension between the two was palpable, though she refrained from commenting on it just now. Hopefully after a meal, everyone could get along. Kaskara was sick of wolves not getting along. Shadow moved forward in silence, not even really acknowledging the fact that she had given her name. He didn't even introduce himself, though of course Bazi had basically done that for him when she called him over. He's a rude one. She wondered what had gotten stuck up his butt, but again didn't say anything aloud.

Bazi then asked where she had come from, and as the trio of wolves moved into the gentle bend of the river, Kaskara answered. "I was originally part of Blacktail Deer Plateau. Peregrine accepted me and I lived there for a few weeks, perhaps a month." She kept her voice low as she spoke, not wanting to scare the fish. As she relayed this information, her bi-colored eyes kept their vigil over the reflective waters of the river, hoping to see a flash of silver scales beneath the surface. "It really wasn't a bad pack. But like I said, trouble seems to follow me everywhere I go, and that peace didn't last long."

Blacktail Deer Plateau. Neural pathways in Bazi's brain lit up like strings of Christmas lights. "Fox went with Peregrine to Blacktail Deer Plateau," she told Kaskara quietly, watching the water whilst she spoke. Flashes of light that might have been the reflective spines of several shoals rushed past, but it was too difficult to tell food from fiction, and she didn't want to splash the entire gathering unless she was certain.

"They seemed very cozy when they swanned off together. A wolf like that, you'd think he had a mate already." Peregrine was quite a catch - the right age, Alpha of a well-established pack (hadn't Blue Willow been part of Blacktail Deer Plateau?); was there something wrong with him?

Keeping his voice low, he turned to look at the dark colored wolf. "Trouble seems to follow you, huh? It seems to follow every single one of us." he said matter of factly. So their red leader had left them to go with another pack's leader to another pack, she left her pack in a crisis to go with another pack's male alpha? What the hell was wrong with her? A faint scowl appeared over his features "Coward, putting Creek wolves in danger, making trouble that we can't afford having then leaving us and running away to another pack when we're in the trouble she created." he spat.

Luckily his voice was low and it didn't disturb the calm flowing of the river, nor the inhabitants in it. His silver gaze fixed on the waters, not meeting Bazi's eyes. He hoped that she wouldn't be too angry with his outburst, he did not want to get kicked out of the Creek just yet. But honestly, Magpie's still a child, what was Fox thinking!

Kaskara blinked, surprised that their former leader had left them to join the pack she had left. It seemed a strange twist of fate that their allegiance had been switched. The silence lasted only a few minutes until Bazi spoke again, to which Kaskara replied, "From what I was told, he and his mate Hawkeye had separated because of some personal issues a few weeks before I joined. I didn't inquire further."

One chocolate ear flicked toward Shadow, whose foul mood seemed to overflow suddenly, his accusatory words spilling forth. Kaskara agreed with him wholeheartedly, but that didn't mean she would say these things out loud. She had learned that lesson before, which had led her here. She kept her mouth shut, however, because just then a flash of silver fun caught her eye, and she lunged face-first into the water.

With a grin, she came up from the shallows with a maw-ful of flapping fish, water dribbling from her tongue. Flinging it onto shore, she let the water settle before turning back to the hunt.

Up for fading into a fishing competition? :)

"From what I was told, he and his mate Hawkeye had separated because of some personal issues a few weeks before I joined. I didn't inquire further."

Not a gossipy girl, then. Bazi swallowed back her own desire to speculate about Fox's situation. Fox had once told her that gossip was not becoming, and the girl that ruled Swiftcurrent now had to admit that she was right.

She was about to ask a more serious question - about the Plateau's hunting grounds, and their strength - when Shadow's rage suddenly erupted all over the banks. She stared at him, shocked and bemused by his sudden wordiness. There were mistakes in his outrage that she wanted to correct, but didn't - what was the point? If the pack wanted to demonize Fox, it would only serve Bazi well.

"You're angry today," she commented wryly, just as Kaskara speared into the river and returned moments later with a mouthful of fish. The sight of several silvery bodies wrestling against her grip coloured Bazi's face with envy. "Oh you bitch," she grinned, and re-focused her attentions on the Creek. "You just wait - first to ten wins."

Sure! :)

"You're angry today," said Bazi.

Maybe, he replied, a smirk finding its way up onto his lips. He stared as Kaskara dove into the water, emerging with a mouthful of writhing bodies made the silver wanderer growl playfully. His bad mood gone. Oh, this ain't happening. he grinned.

When Bazi suggested a fishing competition, he grinned widely, eyes gleaming with competiveness and determination. I'm in. I am going to ace this! he smirked at the two girls before directing his gaze on the creek waters. He was going to win this no matter what.

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Haha, this is awesome. <3

Kaskara looked sidelong at Bazi when she called her a bitch, though she laughed immediately afterward when she saw the smile on her face. "My brother would probably agree. I was always the better fisher." When the white dove suggested that the first to ten would win, Kaskara nodded her agreement and with a devious smile, splashed playfully through the shallows, scaring away the fish as she moved to a more remote location.

The water settled soon enough, though she was sure Bazi and Shadow didn't appreciate her dirty warfare. She didn't care. She was going to win this competition, fins down! Laughing, she splashed the others with a wave of water and then set her sights on the fish, knowing that they'd be scared away by now. They'd come back as soon as everything settled down.