Phoenix Maplewood jellicle cats

the boy had settled in well, though he hadn't met very many people yet. excavating a den for himself, he was proud of his efforts, but did not spend a lot of time there. his hours were mostly spent following in lasher's predictable footsteps and patrolling the outer perimetre of the packland, getting to know the land intimately in case of a threat. 

Saena would be giving birth soon -- Casmir knew nothing about childbirth, and it was only an instinct that told him they would be here soon. he redoubled his efforts at hunting, hoping to fill the caches nearest her den before the kids came -- she would need the food.

silently, he trotted along the border, a lanky, dark figure that would never have his brother's strong muscularity, but would instead take after lasher's lithe build.

Esaro was returning from his encounter with Lunar Eclipse. It was simply great to see her again but they had to split once more. She wasn't part of the pack any longer, instead she was with Reek and Tavi somewhere in the northwest. Maybe one day everyone could be together again but he wasn't too sure how to bring them all back. Was it even possible?

Upon reaching the border he saw someone patrolling. He didn't recognize the wolf and considered trying to sneak around to check who it could be. But he remembered that he had said to Saena he would make sure to protect the site where her puppies will be. Esaro only choice was to face the other.

Getting closer he discover that the wolf has been here before, meaning he had recently joined. "Hello!" He called out. "You recently joined Saena right?" He asked just to be sure.

he hadn't gone too far before he was stopped by a medium-heighted agouti, higher-ranked and with a friendly but searching air to his voice. adopting the stance of a lower-ranked creature, Casmir thumped his tail against the ground. "yeah. 'm new. name is Casmir," he added. "Casmir Mayfair. i've only been here about a week." he wanted to say that he was related to Saena, but felt that it would be too "i have connections, i'm a big shot" type of thing to say. plus he couldn't even adequately name what he was to her, so he left it alone.

"what's your name?" he asked softly, wagging his plume once more.

"I'm Esaro, it's nice to meet you Casmir." He said in a friendly way. It was only now that Esaro realized that he was a little confident in himself. Usually he would keep his head low but this time it was up. It was strange to notice a change. There was once a time where he was at the lowest of ranks but now he was among the middle tier. He didn't really feel like he had the skills to be there but if that was what Saena believed then maybe he did have the skills for it. 

However Esaro didn't care much for ranks, he was just glad to see another male in the pack now. "Now I don't have to be the only male in the pack. You are planning on protecting all the females here, right? I wouldn't want to be the only one for long."

the only -- what? "wait, there are only two dudes here?" the Mayfair boy exclaimed, eyes widening as his veneer of cool dropped. "how -- how does that even work?" how could he and this Esaro-man be the only dongwearers? "i mean, yeah, man, i'll help you. like ... um ... is anyone else u-uh ... you know .... pregnant?" he hissed the last word, ears falling against his head -- was the Maplewood secretly just a bunch of babycarrying women? were they about to be a pack filled with like five hundred puppies?

shit, man.

Esaro nodded, there was a time where it was just him. There was always a chance that another male would be recruited as time passed by. Right now for Esaro, him and Casmir were the only males. "Well if another male joins in like you do there will be more of us. This pack used to have both an Alpha and a beta male but the beta abandoned and the Alpha was kicked out for cheating. So with all that happend it's up to us to make it work now." He said, trying to be encouraging to be a man. All Esaro was thinking was protecting the pack as well as taking care of all the members in it the best he could.

He sat down and looked up a little as he thought about who was pregnant in the pack. Saena was clearly pregnant so he was more or less able to detect it now. "Hmm, our Alpha is pregnant but that's it, I don't think anyone else has it." In a way he was talking as if it was a disease. Esaro hasn't learned the details but he had some ideas and guesses.

Esaro revealed the sordid details to which Casmir had not yet been privy. Saena's baby daddy had been thrown out for being an immoral bastard?? and the beta had up and left? the Maplewood was the equivalent of a reality TV show! some sort of wolf-based soap opera. "shiiiiit," he muttered, not really hearing himself. 

"caught it?" Blue Willow had been thorough with her education, but what's to say that the male didn't actually put some virus into the female, and that's how it was done? and what if it was catching? what if pregnancy was like zombisim? the walking gravid. shit like that.

"so ... so what if there are more?" the boy asked of Esaro, looking around to see that they weren't being listened in on. "how are we supposed to guard a bunch of big bellies? i mean, like they can't get more pregnant if some dude were to sneak in ... right?"

He didn't know what it was but Casmir was making the situation sound like a serious problem. It made Esaro feel a little uneasy, it wouldn't be the first time his ignorance caused problems for the pack. Thanks to the male he became more aware of the problem. Females getting pregnant didn't sound like something that was wanted. Saena was infected but what if there was more? Since Esaro was the only male then wouldn't it be his fault that someone else got infected. Oh no.. was it possible that he messed up again somewhere?

Esaro ended up looking around with Casmir. He really didn't want to get in trouble so his best choice was to work with his pack buddy. "I-I don't know, we need to go make sure it hasn't spread to the other females first. If one of the other females has it too then it would be all my fault since I was the only male around." He was starting to get anxious. He wanted to be sure of himself but he just wasn't. "Do you think some females are immune? That would make it easier to guard if we had less to worry about. Still we can't let any males we don't know close to them, just to be safe."

Cas' eyes widened. "you mean -- wait -- being dudes, we can spread ... whatever this is!?" he wasn't sure about that, having recalled his mother's detailed education. "but like, i thought you have to, you know, touch them, to get them that way." right? was Esaro some sort of prolific Kokopelli? touchin' everyone and makin' them pregnant? 

the Mayfair child had to admit, that was a stone-cold cool skill. "well, if they're already looking fat--" read: pregnant -- "then i doubt they can be more pregnant." he was sure of that now. "we just have to make sure no more dudes come in."

the boy bumped Esaro's shoulder playfully. "hey, even if this is your fault, man, good job. that is a pretty awesome superpower." 

Esaro really didn't know and was more and more uncertain. Being male was likely the cause but how it's done remained a mystery for now. However there had to be more than just touching them or else controlling this situation would be just too hard. Casmir went on saying that if they are already pregnant then they can't be even more infected. Esaro thought the opposite. If he had the power that caused it then would it be possible that they could even get larger and larger the more he uses that power?

He shook his head after Casmir bumped into his shoulder. "N-no, I don't want to get into more trouble than I ready am. If they find out I have this power they might all get mad at me and kick me out of the pack!" Instead of talking here they needed to start working, time might be against them on this. "We need to make sure no one else has it. Maybe I don't have that superpower but we need to make sure." Then he looked at Casmir with targeting eyes. "But what if you had that power?"

Cas shook his head promptly following Esaro's vague accusation. "nah, man. no one at my home pack was pregnant." and even if they were, he was pretty sure it would have been his dad's fault anyway, or maybe dante's. no matter. "but maybe i could get it later. like ... maybe all dudes have it at some point," he muttered, inviting Esaro to walk with him toward the border. after all, they needed to guard it from other guys at this point.

"well, i won't tell on you. we're in this together," he reassured Esaro, with shades of High School Musical under his tones because Ebony can't get that stupid song out of her head.  

"when did the alpha male get kicked out anyway?" he asked.

Esaro didn't think about the possibility that the power might just appear one day. Maybe that was Esaro's case, then again maybe not. It was best that he avoid interacting too heavily with the females, he didn't want to take risks. He was more at ease when Casmir told him that he wasn't going to tell the others. He didn't want to create more problems for the pack but he did need to do what he could to protect it. He followed Casmir to begin the patrols around the territory.

The question that came up was about Reek, Esaro felt no need to keep that stuff a secret. "Not long ago actually but I think that Reek settled not far from here so it's like he really isn't gone."

fade after another round? :)

they walked and Cas listened. "why would he settle so close if he is a damn deadbeat?" that made no sense -- he had abandoned Saena, and pregnant no less, for some bitch, and so why did he need to stay close? the darkfurred wolf frowned and lapsed into quietude for a time, before surfacing with: "what does he look like? what does his pack smell like?" if that dude was gonna be near, Cas might as well figure him out in the interim.

"Maybe he just didn't want to really leave Saena." He answered. Esaro was the type to believe that there was always a reason somewhere. Reek made a huge mistake which would likely not be forgiven but since he had settled not far there was reason to believe that maybe he wanted to be forgiven. However Saena would have to want the same or else it just wouldn't work at all.

Casmir asked what Reek looked like and then what he pack smelt like. Esaro thought about for a moment. "Well Reek has black fur that makes him look wild but as for his pack I don't really know what they smell like, I've never gone over there."

last for me!

he filed away the description for another time and nodded. "let's go patrol." while he would be on the lookout for this reek, he expected that they both would be searching for any other men who could potentially bring the pregnancy virus to the Phoenix women.