Bitterroot Valley ✢ I can't find one good reason for leavin' here alone

making some assumptions (let me know if not okay), post pack hunt, backdated so any current threads posts in moonglow will be present-dated.

moose-blood, pine sap, trampled snow— all woven together in the cold air as sega walked at @Angel Oak’s side, their pelts brushing now and then like sparks meeting tinder. dawn light sifted through the bare branches, catching the curve of her cheek, the knots of dried blood still clinging to his own shoulder fur from the hunt. he felt the pleasant heaviness of a full belly, the pride of a strong pack, and the quiet, familiar ache of wanting her close.

they crested a rise overlooking the heart of great sky. sega lifted his head, breath pluming white.

hn, a soft rumble to angel, warm, conspiratorial. we call now.

his voice rose then— a deep, rolling howl that carried through the valley, steady and summoning. one calling for hunters. for kin. for purpose.

a note for callahan ( @Barrett ) , his lowest register— the voice of a leader seeking his right-hand.

a rising sweep for @Elowyn, gentler, beckoning like a hearthfire calling someone home.

the echoes faded into the timberline. sega’s tail brushed angel’s hock as he lowered his muzzle again, something nearly fond gleaming in his gold eyes.

let angel post first:)

True to his predictions, Angel had kept Sega busy. She still had her own duties to tend to, of course, and her own hobbies, and her own friends — but when she wasn't occupied by any of those things, she was trying to steal the band chief away for a few clandestine moments.

Even now, in this very not clandestine moment, her body burned with a strange new energy. She was not visibly vibratory beside him, but Sega must be able to feel the seething swirl of desire and instinct and joy that lived beneath her skin, and that seemed to reach down to her very bones.

The look she shot him was almost affectionate, too. Mostly, it was a great and terrible something else.

They howled together, Angel's voice welcoming to Callahan, and sweetly trusting to Elowyn. She was still not entirely sure about this plan, but she knew that Elowyn would do her best to represent her.

Angel turned her face briefly into Sega's shoulder, her nose reaching up to touch a place below his ear, as if she might whisper something. But she said nothing, and soon settled so that Callahan and Elowyn would not come upon so tender an exchange. Only their band chief and her, standing sure and steady at his side.

At the call for her and Callahan, Elowyn went to find Angel and Sega. She had been waiting for this since her friend had asked her to make this journey. Today was the day.

She found them, standing together and her heart welled with excitement and happiness for them. Her tail flicked in greeting. "Hello, Angel and Sega," she said. Now they waited on Callahan.

Sega called for Callahan, but it was Miska that eventually answered.

Callahan. It was a wolf he had seen in passing - an unremarkable brown brute thay had slid into the ranks after the pack's founding. But Sega had called for him. Summoned him, favoured him, deemed him most worthy for some important task - this wolf that Miska did not know.

He found himself offended.

When Callahan did not show, Miska slid into view from whatever rock he had been lurking behind and lumbered slowly towards the group. He made brief eye contact with Elowyn when she was close enough, and rather quickly guessed at what might be going on between Sega and Angel.

"New favorite man not answer," he said, looking between the happy couple. There was a thin but clear vein of something sour on his voice. "Perhapsing you can accept lowly stand-in. Perhapsing.. one who was starting in tribe with you?"

sega’s mouth pulls into a slow smirk at miska’s words, eyes cutting sideways to him. there is no anger there, only heat. challenge, maybe. he does not rise to it, but he does not miss it either.

mm, he huffs. you loud as ever.

his shoulder shifts, subtle, angling just enough to block angel without touching her. territorial, quiet. then his gaze settles on miska properly.

perhaps this your chance, sega says, calm but edged. prove self. maybe more.

a pause. weight to the words.

elowyn, he turns, voice gentler. steady. you go west. ouroboros spine. find rodyn. you speak. you tell him great sky stand strong. tell him angel safe. honored. to be wed.

his eyes flick back to miska.

miska go with you. you protect her. a beat. that smirk again. and you… keep road lively. hm?

then, softer, to both of them.

bring her father home. we hunt. we feast. we talk like family.

his gaze returns briefly to angel, lingering just long enough to say everything he does not aloud.

go, he rumbles. great sky wait.

let me know if this plan sounds good, i can modify if needed.

Though Elowyn was greeted with deep happiness, Angel was quietly horrified when Miska showed up instead of Callahan. Her last impression of him was of a bawdy but sentimental man — but she still remembered her first, and she could see how well it might go if that was to be the man that would meet with her family.

Sega bid them go, but Angel stepped forward to bid them wait. To Elowyn, she begged, "Just remember what I told you," her voice almost too low to be overheard. And to Miska, "Thank you — this is important to me."

She did not let herself beg him. Instead she left him with the weight of her hope and confidence. Perhaps it would make a difference for the better, or perhaps for the worse. She supposed that all she could do now was hope.

To them both, she offered the traditional Morningside blessing: "Be strong and vigilant. Protect one another." And here, she hesitated. Easy always said, know that I love you so, at the end. She wanted to say this to Elowyn. Part of her, even, wanted to say this to Miska, and to have it be true. Instead, she went with the typical, "I'll see you on the other side."

For now, that would have to do.

Elowyn hadn’t expected Miska to join her instead of Callahan. A rush of fear crossed her, but she tamped it down, greeting him with a flick of her tail. When Angel spoke to her, she nodded. “I remember. I will do as you ask.”

She turned to Miska. “We should get going then, Miska,” she said, flicking her tail again, doing her best to sound confident and ready for this journey.

Sega offered him the honor of escort with a side of mild insult. Miska accepted with a nefarious grin and a little bow, but his eyes remained hard. Chance had made it so, not Sega's favour.

The girls looked horrified (to their credit, very briefly), as though a rabid bear had just offered to take Calla-what's place. Miska excused this. They were yearlings, little girls, barely off their mothers' teats. The world would callous their soft and shimmering souls soon enough. He took Angel at her word instead, offering a sincere nod when she thanked him and turned to Elowyn with the softest smile available to him.

They would go north-west. Skirting the mountains and passing the sea where he had nearly killed a mute young thing for sport. When Miska had relayed this plan to Elowyn after a moment's calculation, he turned back to the happy couple.

"You think am savage," he said on a  tired exhale. "I see face, understand meanings of loud. Is OK." He shrugged. "I live hard, ugly life, make hard, ugly wolf. I share with you learnings. When it is bad times, you will not calling to dancing prince with soft mouth to protecting you." His eyes slid to Angel. "Protecting your children. You will call to loud savage with long teeth."

sega watches them go until the trees take them. long moment. then he exhales through his nose, a small shake of his head.

he misunderstand me, he says quietly to angel. think i see him as animal.

his gaze stays on the path they took, steady.

no, sega murmurs. i see good in him. rough good. kind that stand when things burn.

he looks down to her then, softer.

he loud. sharp. but heart there. that why i send him.