Blacktail Deer Plateau neener-neener

Does @Junior have time to play?

Pura was vaguely aware of some serious biz going down between Junior and the adult population. Something to do with Peregrine's new pack, and the injured wolf in Blue Willow's den that was now no longer present.

Curious to find out more, Pura rose early to track down the most lawless of the four siblings. A sociopath, a gossip, a cray cray, and a loon. No wonder Peregrine and left to try again with a second mate.

It didn't take long to find a scent trail. The air was crisp, and his breath rose in plumes from the ground as he trudged through the forest, nose working millimeters away from the trampled, muddy leaves underfoot.

Junior refused to stay in Blue Willow's den after that fateful day. She likewise refused any attempts at consolation. Hell, she refused to socialize, period. Ashamed, angry and hurt, she withdrew. She retreated to the territory's far side, slipped into Pied's birthing (and deathing) den and was in the middle of deciding whether to sneak off into the tunnel when her emotions paralyzed her and she sank to the floor in a sobbing mess. Again.

She didn't move for two days. Finally, thirst drove her to emerge above-ground. Junior poked her narrow head out of the burrow's entrance, made sure nobody was nearby, then slunk furtively to the nearest brook. She lapped thirstily, then spun. She intended to go right back into her hidey hole. Junior wanted nothing to do with anyone and she was convinced nobody wanted anything to do with her. Nobody understood her, of course, and nobody loved her either. At least, that's what she told herself and unfortunately it was easy enough to believe.

When she heard the dull thud of footfalls coming closer, Junior ran like a rabbit back toward the den. Right before dropping down inside, she paused and glanced over her shoulder, ears pricking and nose twitching. Pura? The youth paused indecisively, unsure of whether or not she minded her brother's presence.

I've been away with work - I can spree this out if you'd like, or conclude it in my next post!

Pura ended up in a part of the plateau that, for some inexplicable reason, he had neglected to explore. He saw no structural changes and it smelled the same, but the air felt a little colder, and his heart a little darker.

"Junior?" the teenager called out, listening out for the slightest rustle of movement. He didn't understand his sisters. Each one of them was impossibly complicated, wearing ten different skins in as many days. Presently, Junior was avoiding the entire pack, and Pura worried that she might actually throw herself into the river and leave only ears behind. Only this time, Peregrine would not be here to bury her.

I think I'm gonna have Junior avoid him. Sorry! :( But maybe someone else will join?!

He called her name and Junior flinched as if struck. Without really thinking about it, she slithered into the den, dropping to its cold floor and sitting very still as she pricked her ears. She held her breath, waiting to hear the telltale sound as her cousling moved away. Junior then exhaled.

As her breath left her body, she filled with guilt. She thought about climbing back into the daylight and going after him. She could apologize for avoiding him. Yet Junior could not bring herself to move for a long time. By the time she did, the window of opportunity had closed. Instead of exiting the den, she slunk toward the small hole in the rear wall.

She paused, looking over her shoulder at the dim spot of light on the den floor, which was stained dark. Junior then faced forward and crept into the tunnel, vanishing into the mountain.

Goodbye Junior! :'( Perhaps @Dante or @Blue Willow wants to jump in?

No response. Pura spent a little bit of time sniffing around, but the whole place made him feel uncomfortable, and he never got as far as the abandoned, overgrown den that Junior had disappeared into.

Instead, Pura turned back, hoping to seek out Dante or Blue Willow and get some clarification on exactly what was going on with Junior. Was she still sick?

Though he knew she would not appreciate it, Dante made a point to go by where Junior had secluded herself from time to time. He did not get close enough to know exactly where her den was, wanting to let her approach in her own time, but if her chosen exile lasted much longer he felt he would need to at least talk with her. Little did he know it would be too little too late.

This time when he came near the place he saw Pura and greeted him with a low bark to indicate his presence. Trotting over, he caught a somewhat searching air about him and stopped. "Pura, what's up? Something wrong?"

Dante was conveniently nearby. Pura turned towards the sound, returning the exact same greeting. With one final look in the direction of the den where his mother had died, the teenager broke away and padded towards his Alpha.

Pura wasted no time. He had the overwhelmingly uncomfortable feeling that something wasn't quite right with the plateau. The ripples if Peregrine's departure were still causing drama, particularly among its youngest residents, and the constant change was like an itch he couldn't scratch.

"What's happening?" he asked, blank eyes fixed on Dante's face.

As always it seemed, Pura was quick to cut to the quick of the problem. Dante wondered sometimes at his perceptiveness... he'd make a bang-up counselor if he related more, though Dante didn't mind his disassociation either. Of all of his family it made him the easiest one to be around right now.

Dante knew Pura wasn't asking about the current physical state of things, and the question gave him pause. "I am not sure," he confessed finally, looking back at Pura openly. He knew exactly what he was speaking of too. Things were changing, shifting in a direction that was not positive. Everything was falling out of place and Dante wasn't sure how to hold it together.

"I am not sure," Dante responded honestly. Pura looked back over his shoulder at the place where Junior's scent disappeared into the rock.

When he looked back at the Plateau's Alpha, it was not with accusation or angry tears. "Will she come back?" was all he asked, as if the answer would make no difference to him at all.

But at his core, Pura was changing. Gentle drops did not crack a boulder, and that was exactly how the boy experienced the emotional firestorms that blazed around him.. but they took their toll, eventually.

Dante thought on how to respond to Pura's question. At this point he wasn't even quite sure she was gone, but something led him to believe this was the case. That Pura, ever observant, thought so too only strengthened this.

"I hope so. She has before." If history was correct then she would sometime find her way home again. But there was a small part of him that wondered, for he was not sure that this place was one she still saw as home. And there was a time he had thought nothing could make that possible. But now? Now he was not so certain.

"I hope so. She has before."

Pura nodded, but didn't agree. The season of the first pups of Blacktail Deer Plateau was over. They would not inherit the land, as Peregrine had hoped. The patriarch himself had left to put down roots elsewhere, his two girls were gone, and neither Pura nor Saena were particularly settled.

That wasn't to say he wanted to leave. Pura did not like change, and he was not an adventurer, but the Plateau was not offering him stability, either.

"I'm going to patrol," he told Dante, excusing himself with a shallow bow. There was nothing more the Alpha could tell him about Junior's whereabouts, so he might as well get on with things.

Dante nodded a silent dismissal when Pura stated his intent, watching the boy depart with mild concern. He seemed fine, but with the way his siblings had been handling things of late, Dante felt the need to keep an eye on him as well, just in case. Some adjusted better than others, but some also concealed better. It would be wise to determine which group the reclusive juvenile belonged in.

The brief encounter had given him new considerations as well as renewed worries. A patrol sounded like a fine idea, though he headed in the opposite direction. He wished at this time to be alone with his thoughts and sensed the same was true of Pura. It seemed that was usually the case with him.