life is a battle

Potential joining thread! c: Tagging @Charon or @Thistle Cloud

Even through the clouds that obscured the sky for the most of the day, Skagos could see the sun setting in the horizon as dusk settled over the evening. The day had been hot and the coming night would be no different he felt, if the muggy humidity that had seemed to increase the closer that he drew to the coast and he was close now. The salty tang that had saturated the earth and air in territories near the sea was unmistakable and brought with it some semblence of familiarty despite that he was new to these Wilds and unsure yet if he was going to stay. Loyalty to Queen and pack was easy but discovering what it meant to be a free man would be easy, too, he was slowly learning. Never before had he been able to sate his own curiousity, though this was the first time he was able to want something and act upon it. No permission was needed and there was no lingering presence of an Amazon woman to cluck her disapproval at him for giving into avarice as it lured him to think selfishlessly. Currently, the young Doctore could think of nothing he wanted more than to be selfish. If the wiles of being a free man didn't suit him, if he could no adapt (such as Five could not) then he would return to Coatl's Rise where he would be welcomed back; thus far, however, Skagos had yet to see the downside though he decision still balanced percariously on the edge of a knife. He remained, for the time being torn.

If he decided to return to Coatl's Rise there was a good chance that he would never get an opportunity such as this again and he wanted to take thorough advantage of it while he had the ability to do such things. It was liberating; and he could feel the pull of it, tempting him to turning his back on everything he'd been raised to be. Skagos had always known there were places where males were equal and while he was not entirely sure he would ever be able to inherently follow a male leader, he was intrigued by the idea of equality even if it's true meaning eluded him. Steps slowed to a cease as he neared the borders of a pack, being sure to leave more than adequate room between himself and the scent markers that warded him from crossing them. The strongest was female, with the second strongest scenting as male, curious as it was. The pack smelled to be rather small, but Skagos did not initially call out to them, contented with deciphering what the scent markers had to tell him about them for the moment.

Though proud of becoming possibly the world's youngest Beta, Charon's ambitions did not end there. He longed for more, felt like he deserved more, and he had already decided he would work towards being an Alpha some day, the title he felt he deserved. Still, Charon was rather happy, despite all of the tragedy that had befallen the pack: he had searched far and wide for Atreyu and Jorunn both, but their scent trails had died and he had not found anyone who'd seen them. He was sad, but he had long decided he could not be sad all the time: for Levi's sake, for the pack's sake.

The young Beta trotted along the borders when he picked up the scent of another wolf. Ears poked forward in the direction of the stranger, and he made his way there. Tail was carried proudly and head tall, a proud expression on his face.

Upon his approach he found another male, young, but not as young as himself. Charon couldn't find many scents on him, and guessed it was probably a loner. He approached dominantly and asked, though not entirely unkindly: "What do you want?" Then he waited, hoping that it wasn't anything bad, like that dirty, sick loner he'd met up North a while ago.

i'll be gone through the weekend (friday - monday), but didn't want to leave you hanging in case Danni doesn't have time to reply soon either so tossing Charon in here anyway. :3

Short post is short. ;-;

It was a male that approached him, body held in a position that Skagos knew could only belong to a woman; or had been raised to think, at any rate. It was a bizarre thing, and it took the Doctore a hard and long moment in which to reel his instinct to attack the young boy parading around as if he were the Alpha (for all Skagos knew he could have been) into submission. Not even the Doctore were permitted to raise their tails, or their heads. They were allowed to exercise dominance over the slaves, but they had to be careful that an amazon did not see it as too much, as a challenge. Wrong, wrong, wrong, it repeated like a mantra in his head. Not only was it a male who approached him with the posture of a leader, but it was a young boy. Skagos understood that this must be one of those packs that believed in rank equality for both genders; but despite his curiousity he struggled to accept it. It was a lot harder than he'd imagined it might be. Stalwart the Doctore stood, receiving the child's (in Skagos' mind) question.

“Where is your leader?” He inquired, giving a question back in stead. “Where is the woman whose scent is the strongest?”

The stranger gave Charon a look that the young Beta could not decipher: he didn’t really understand what it meant. Maybe this guy was just a little weird in the head. The wolf didn’t pay as much respect – by submitting – as Charon would’ve liked, but he kept his cool for now.

His question was soon answered when the stranger asked for his leader. Charon knew he meant Thistle Cloud, for he had probably smelled her presence upon the borders, but he wasn’t about to be deterred here, wouldn’t resort to calling for her: he was a leader too, he could handle this situation.

”I’m this pack’s Beta.” Charon looked at the other wolf’s face to see how he would respond to that. ”Our Alpha doesn’t have time to be everywhere at once, anyway, so I can help with whatever you want too.” Maybe if it was important enough, Charon would call Thistle Cloud, but for now he’d attend this stranger at their borders.