Swiftcurrent Creek death brings life · pack meeting

In filed the remaining wolves. First, Solene of the peppered toes, who Jinx remembered from a vague previous encounter. Next, Njal, a wolf she had sparred with once. He arrived with head and tail curled, proclaiming his rank for all to see. Ever an insolent wolf, Jinx matched this display head-on despite Njal's longevity with the pack, keen to take advantage of this day of unrest to put herself ahead. Whether he would single her out and attempt to physically push her down was left up to him. The young mambo was arrogant enough to believe she should stand above them all. She had always been arrogant, but once, it had been tempered by compassion.

No longer was that so.

Clarice was next, and Jinx's expression softened for her alone. The girl had truly come into her own, and now stood proudly amongst them. No doubt some day, the loa and their whirling voices would summon Clarice away again, but until that day came, it was plain to Jinx she intended to maintain rank in the creek. She did not falter and flinch away as the Kesuk might have expected her to. Her attention was pulled from Clarice when Ira stepped into the gathering, and though she knew he hadn't necessarily been expected here, she nonetheless felt proud that he had come. He settled beside her, and she noted he was getting taller and taller, and soon might even stand even with her, should he continue on growing.

Lecter came last. Although any insecure leader might have though this was an insult or disrespectful, Jinx knew otherwise. The shaman so often kept himself distant from society that it would have taken him some time to arrive, and she could only imagine he was loathe to follow someone that was not Shearwater. A momentary surge of possessiveness placed her pulse in her throat, and she faltered again, fumbling once more with the idea of claiming the pack for herself.

But Fox spoke before she could act on this impulse and she settled, resigned to this outcome. She was to patrol the borders with Njal, it seemed. "Got it," she chuffed, finding no other words necessary. Her gaze went to the brawny wolf with whom she would share this duty, and her mind questioned again whether he would act against her insolence or not. Solene was to gather and hunt, Clarice was to heal (though Jinx might've snickered at that if it was more appropriate, since she though Clarice was more like to poison someone for not worshipping Sos than to heal them), and that left Lecter.

Jinx knew of Lecter's myriad talents. She was tempted for a moment to reveal them herself and speak for him, but it passed. She was not anything to him but a Kesuk princess... And despite the memories his presence brought, and the stirring of her loins it brought, she did not think it proper to speak for him. Besides, she thought, Lecter was such a queer individual that his response was bound to be amusing.