Phoenix Maplewood A lack of color

Hoping for one or more of the newbies! @Scarlett @Ashka @Juniper @Vega @Desna @Nanook @Sesi

The change in seasons brought more than the cold. It started with an ache— easy to ignore. Apart from fatigue, Reek carried on his duties as usual. He patrolled the borders regularly, hunted for Sart (now that there was only one of the coyote's left, his job had become much easier), and he did what he could to keep the pack running efficiently after repeated intrusions. There was little time left after handling his hefty to-do list to meet the new members of the pack. Nor was there enough time to notice the bug that had pushed its way passed his immune system.

The other symptoms began to fall in line soon afterward. Nausea, chills, fever: they hit all at once. His duties ceased on a cold, October morning. Reek kept to his den in semi-isolation in the hopes he could keep from infecting the rest of the pack. He didn't need a background in healing to know exactly what was happening to him: flu season had begun— and it had just claimed its first victim. While it wasn't life threatening, it was a miserable experience. One Reek would reserve only for his worst enemies.

In an awkward struggle, Reek repositioned himself in the den, allowing himself to poke his head out into the open air. He breathed deeply, but it soon turned into a sputtering cacophony of ragged coughs. His eyes drooped weakly as he resigned himself to watch the birds titter about among the maple trees.

Desna was out exploring again. She was seeing the positive side of the move since there were so many new things to explore! The plump girl made sure to sniff everything as best as possible. She was trying to remember all scents and link them to how they looked. Not that she was remembering all, but at least she was motivated to do so. The girl was very keen on trying to learn how to catch her own meals. Desna liked to think that she was good enough but the girl really didn't have the right speed most smaller critters have like a hare or a rabbit. Still that didn't keep the girl from tracking tracks under the bedding of orange leaves.

She followed a scent for a long while, until she came across another interesting one. Instantly she changed in directions. Her little tail was up proudly with all her exploring and tracking down. It was a series of coughs that made her jump and look up. What was that kind of sound!? Was it a dying animal? The pup moved close to the ground and was starting to creep closer. Desna started to smell a weird wolf smell, something she hadn't smelled before. Little did she know it was the smell that came with the flu. Her hazel eyed peeked over a big tree root, seeing the dark colored male. He looked unwell, maybe she could help!

Desna jumped up and over the root and in a light gallop she ran towards him. "You okay??," she asked, looking rather uncertain for a moment. Her tail gave a hesitant wag. She tried to give a friendly smile to the male and tipped her head curiously.

I feel like Desna would totally intrude on his privacy compared to how Scarlett wouldn't. x)

Hi, hello!

Today found Juniper heading out to find Saena and inquire as to how the woman was doing with her flea problem. Hopefully she'd taken the ideas they'd brainstormed, and double-hopefully one of them worked to rid the Alpha of her infestation. The golden girl couldn't imagine all those bugs crawling on her and biting her... ick. A shudder raced up her spine and she flicked an ear to dispel the queer phantom itch that tickled at it from the thought.

But as she neared the den site, it wasn't Saena she found, but two unfamiliar faces with familiar scents. One of them, most likely the Alpha male Reek (judging from a few factors), looked a bit under the weather. The other reminded her immediately of the ashen gray girl, Nanook. Likely a sibling; definitely one of Scarlett's.

Juniper approached and chuffed warmly to the two wolves until her attention settled on Reek as she awaited an answer to Desna's question.

It was impossible to rest no matter how hard he tried. He shut his tired eyes, but sleep was miles away. They slowly reopened shortly after. The body aches simply wouldn't allow it.  The flu was a vicious cycle— the only good treatment was sleep, but the symptoms made it so, so hard.  He coughed once more, rousing himself fully from his sleepless limbo.  

Now fully awake, Reek's vision slowly regained focus as he made out the small, but notably plump pup, standing a few feet away. She was relatively unfamiliar, one of Scarlett's brood, but Reek couldn't help but shoot her a feeble smile despite her strangeness. "I'll be fine," he wheezed in response. "But I wouldn't get too close— I'm sick."  She was too young and possessed an immune system far too delicate to handle such a shock to the system.

Another unfamiliar wolf arrived and Reek turned his attention to Juniper.  "Same goes for you— uh," he paused, realizing he didn't know either of their names. Saena had handled all the new arrivals as of late, causing Reek to feel a disconnect with the rest of his pack. "Names, both of you."

Desna tiptoed back when the other said he was sick. Hopefully he wasn't too sickly. Desna didn't want to get sick herself! She looked over her shoulder when a friendly female approached. At first she thought it was her mother but the height, scent and eye color didn't match. Never the less Desna moved between Juniper's front paws. It was so natural for her to stand by her mommy and mostly under her. Desna was awfully trusting.

"Desna!," she's squeaked excitedly, her tail wagging. Then she tipped her head all the way back to look at the female's chin and chest. Because now she was going to tell her name. "He is sick! We need to help!," Desna stated, having her mother's friendliness.