Horizon Ridge folded up dollar bills

So this was it. Kennedy felt strange here, even after he had gone through the routine of meeting Akhlut and being officially accepted into Horizon Ridge. Still, he felt out of sorts. It was to be expected, of course, considering he had spent 100% of his life in the pack he had been born into. He felt like a small child all over again, trying to get his footing while feeling like a stranger even to himself. Nevertheless, he had made his choice, so he was not about to go back on it. Kennedy knew that he would have to suck it up and learn to live on his own--without his brother lingering over him every step of the way.

It wasn't that he disliked his brother exactly. It was just that the guy had always one-upped him on everything that they did. Ulysses, Kennedy's littermate and rival, had been a shining example of everything good, and the newly-titled Xi had always felt a gnawing jealousy toward his closest relative. It had chewed at him for over four years now, and he had become worn down. So, in the middle of one cold December evening, Kennedy had up and left his birth pack without a single goodbye. Nobody would miss him.

He did not expect things to be so much different in Horizon Ridge, but the fact that it lacked a Ulysses made it feel quieter and easier to handle. Shuffling his feet forward, Kennedy began his way around the perimeter of his new home, in some kind of effort to familiarize himself with the place.

After an unwanted, but luckily brief journey in the world, that existed outside Horizon ridge's borders, Pump was very happy to once again set her paw on the lands she recognized and felt safe in. The first thing she had done was to visit her secret stashes to be sure that no one had raided them in her absence. The next logical step, obviously, was to empty them herself. She ate every single bit of it, leaving nothing but a strong smell of rotten meat in the air.

With her scent strong and distinguishable among the other pack members she decided to wander a bit around to see, what had happened during her absence. She even conisdered visiting Pied, if she was well enough to see someone or hadn't died already, but that was a debatable question, because she was neither a close friend, nor a relative - what good her stinky presence would do to the sick wolf?

"Oy!" she barked out, when her keen eyes noticed an unfamiliar wolf figure in the distance, who - it appeared - was taking a walk just the same way she was. "Who are you and state your business!" she demanded, approaching the significantly larger and definitely stronger male in a dominant way. Regardless of his size - she had been here first, she had earned her rank and respect and she had some pride about that too - and expected the newest additions to the pack to recognize it.

Kennedy was no fool, and he knew that his size meant very little in the social aspect of life. So when the soft and fluffy pack-mate jogged up to greet him with her tail flying high in the air, the Xi lowered his own and averted his gaze out of politeness and respect. He was old enough to know what was to be expected of him, just as any wolf his age would have known. Not that he considered himself old by any means. Once he had made it clear he wanted no challenge, Kennedy responded to her question (or rather, her demand).

"Kennedy," he replied, "and I do believe I am the newest member of Horizon Ridge." A sheepish grin appeared on his face, causing his vibrant green eyes to squint just the tiniest bit. "And who might you be?" he asked, tentatively stepping toward the black creature. He would stop if it seemed that she disliked his friendly advances, but like any wolf with a nose, he knew the best way to remember her would be by her scent, not her appearance or name.

ooc: the soft and fluffy pack-mate - awww...

"Oh!" Pump nodded and then closed the distance between them to examine all the important parts on his body worth sniffing. His own scent was very distinct from that of other pack mates and that way he was a bit more interesting to her than the rest of the group. He looked like a strong guy, polite - yes - but she could bet that he had been standing high in ranks somewhere else and, if he stayed, there was no doubt that he would climb up the hierarchy quickly. But these were just speculations.

Satisfied with what she had found out she went past the big black wolf, squatted and left a scent mark. Then she turned back to him, wagged her tail in a neutral manner and replied to his question earlier: "Name's Pump."

Pump. He had never heard such a name before, but he was not concerned. Names were a dime a dozen, and he had come to find that even if he met and interacted with a dozen new wolves a day, they would never run out of names to call themselves. It didn't bother him in the slightest. In fact, it made it a little bit easier to keep everybody separate. Imagine if there were half a dozen wolves all running around with the same name. That would be madness.

"Have you lived here long?" he asked, taking the opportunity to make small talk with his newest acquaintance. Akhlut had said that the pack was fairly new, but that did not necessarily mean that Pump had been here since its incarnation. Besides, her answer could easily lead into more questions, and that was really what conversation was all about.

"Has been a while," Pump shrugged. She was a being that lived in the present and did not care much for the past or future. Because the first was impossible to change - gone and forgotten - and the future was something that did not concern her much. In her opinion - an unnecessary term.

"The place is good," she went on, feeling obliged to tell a bit about their land. "You can find food and there is plenty of it down at the shores," she beckoned to the far off shore of the ocean, where she went on almost daily scavenging hunts for rotten corpses and fish. "So, if you are going to stay - you won't starve," that was the most relevant thing about this place. Everything else - of lesser matter.

"And you are here because..." she began a question and inclined him to finish.

Kennedy chuckled when Pump explained all the reasons he would not starve here. The Xi had not even considered the possibility, to be honest. Having lived in the comfort of a pack for his entire life (sans that short stint traveling from there to here), so the thought of starving seemed foreign to him. He understood the concept, of course, but it just did not strike him as the sort of thing that would happen to him.

The younger wolf then asked why he was here (in so many words), and he shifted slightly. He supposed it was only natural for her to ask such a thing, especially since he was not one of the young ones who usually left as soon as they were mature. No, he had waited many more years than most to finally cut his ties loose and move on. "Because it was the best thing for me," he replied, side-stepping the answer. He couldn't actually determine that this pack was the best, but it was certainly an improvement from his previous situation.

Not wishing to dwell on that answer, however, he was quick to steer them away from the less-than-pleasant talking point. "Speaking of food, would you be interested in trying to round some up?" he asked. Hunting, he had found, was one of the best ways to bond with pack-mates.

Pump frowned, when she sensed amusement in the other wolf's demeanor. Having experienced starvation under severe weather conditions, when most of her pack had died either of hunger or had misteriously disappeared, when they had been forced to eat their deceased siblings and relatives. Since then food had been very high up in her list of priorities - she knew, what it meant to be hungry, and valued every single day she could have a scrap to eat and cherish her life.

"You think it is amusing?" she let out a low growl and gave him a dark look. She did not understand people, who had had everything all their lives. "You have never met the Death itself face to face?"

Kennedy was taken aback by her reaction. Had he known her history, he surely would not have implied such a thing was something to joke about. "I apologize," he replied, his tail falling still behind him, "I did not mean to offend or make light." It was obvious that his own experiences did not line up with her own. He had been extremely lucky compared to others, though he tended to forget his own life was different than that of others.

"Could I ask forgiveness for my lack of tact?" he asked, his voice full of genuinity. The Xi had never thought himself an asshole, but here he was making a fine one of himself. He could only hope that she would recognize it as a mistake and something that he would learn his lesson from. And if not? Well, he would keep trying, because that was just the kind of guy he was.

Pump was not affected by his words of apology, she looked at him, feeling nothing but contempt for this fool, who did not know that food was of a great value. She did not say anything for a long while, but then she eased the tension building up between them, by casting her gaze away and shaking her coat.

"Be careful, what words you use," she said - this was a warning. "So - a change in life, a breathe of fresh air," she continued on a more neutral manner, feeling unusually eloquent. "The same reasons for me. Pack life can get very tight sometimes," like it had for her. A change for a better life.

He could sense that his apology was not fully accepted, and it hurt. He had not meant in any way to offend or anger his pack-mate, especially since they had only just met. The Xi felt awful about the whole thing, and promised silently that he would somehow make it up to her. He was not quite sure how or even if it was possible, but he would sure do his damndest to make her feel better about him. Kennedy disliked it when others thought poorly of him, but he knew it was no fault of their own. He shouldered the blame willingly.

"I should… go, shouldn't I." he replied. Kennedy felt like it was the only thing to do at this point. He had upset Pump, and he did not think there was much he could do to make it better right now. Obviously words would not be enough. Time, perhaps. Or maybe he would make some other gesture in an attempt to win her over, but he felt that the longer he lingered, the more likely he was to make her angry again. Still, he did not run off just yet. He left the air between them open, should she decide that he would be better off here.

The guy was very upset and even though Pump enjoyed this to a certain level (she liked to have power over people), it didn't help to make her relationship with the packmate any better. Especially, since he was the new one here. Therefore she decided that to continue to act, as if she had been gravely insulted, would not be the wisest thing to do. She was not the kind of person, who made friends, and yet she needed company so that she wouldn't be entirely alone in the world. Complicated to say the least.

"Nope," Pump replied and cracked a little smile, but just for a fraction of a second. She had to keep her big, bad wolf face after all, even if she started to warm up for this brawny and brainy packmate. "Stay, where you are," as she said this she wondered, whether this belonged to the privileges her rank offered her. Maybe it didn't, but he seemed very keen to be submissive and she wanted to know, what it meant to take an advantage of this situation. "Let's walk, shall we?" she offered. "I will show you something."

Kennedy was apprehensive when Pump told him to stay, but he did as told. It was the smart thing to do, considering his place in the pack. Edy wanted nothing more than please his pack-mates here. To fit in with this new family of his. A moment passed, and then Pump offered to show him something. Eagerly, the Xi followed. He did not speak, though. The large beast had become hesitant to say anything at all, fearing that he would misstep his bounds again and speak out of turn.

The sound of footsteps were the only thing that could be heard as he followed her obediently, hoping that his gesture would somehow help him with his ongoing apology. Never had he meant to upset her, and now he just felt worse and worse as time went on. Kennedy took a deep breath, reminding himself that things would get better. They would have to.

This was starting to get weird - Pump did not understand, why Kennedy was still sulking, even though she had showed her good will. It wasn't that the wolf-dog held grudges for a long time, but she was not very good at showing that. There hadn't been an actual need in the past.

"Did you go mute?" she asked, stopping in her tracks and turning her head to face the pack-mate. "I mean, you are allowed to talk," it was not exactly, what she had wanted to say, but it was the best she could muster up. "All is fine," she cracked a grin and wagged her tail a little.

edy is a bit of a drama queen. :P

It seemed that every action (or inaction) took him in the wrong direction. "Sorry," he replied, unsure of what to say next. She seemed keen to get him to speak, and yet he feared that any word to spill from his mouth would be the wrong one. Even if she insisted all was well, Edy knew he would not allow himself to forget his mistake until he had properly made it up to her.

"So, uh, where are we going?" he asked, figuring that was the most neutral way to continue their conversation. She was obviously taking him somewhere, and he was curious to find out where that was. Unless, of course, she was taking him to some horrible deathtrap because of the way he had acted.

ooc: makes it all the more fun to roleplay.

Pump was totally at loss, what should she do with this pack-mate. Was something so wrong with her or he was the weird one. Because every time she tried to assure him that everything was fine, he got even more nervous than he had been before. Then it occurred to her that it was his problem after all and she shouldn't be worrying about that.

Therefore she decided to ignore his temper tantrums and went on to explain, where they were going. "I will show you a good place to scavenge for food," if Kennedy was to stay here, he should know, where to find food.

Kennedy felt a bit more at ease. Pump explained where they were going, and he did not feel as though she was quite as upset with him. It seemed that they were going on some kind of food exploration, which Edy thought would be just fine. He could think of no words to respond with, though, so he continued following her without any followup to her answer.

The man plodded along, and after a length of silence had passed, Edy spoke up again. "Do you have an opinion of the alpha, Akhlut?" he asked. The Razorback had only met the younger man briefly, and he had been alright. Nothing that blew Edy away, but any escape from his brother was enough.

That was a very tricky question and Pump could not provide an immediate answer to it. Akhlut was... her alpha. That was all. He was not her friend, she couldn't say, if she particularly liked him. Was she indifferent to him? Maybe. She respected him for the fact that he had let her live here. He offered her protection, safety and chances of better survival compared to those, who wandered alone. But then again she would have pledged her loyalty to anyone, who had reached out to her, therefore the alpha was not special in that aspect.

"I respect him and I am loyal," she finally mustered up a reply. "And you?" she asked out of curiosity, wanting to find out, what a person with a different character and background would have to say about it.

"I suppose I feel about the same," Edy replied. The large black wolf had only met Akhlut briefly, and not many words had passed between the two. He seemed alright, but nothing that had blown Edy away. Of course, anybody was better than Ulysses at this point, and Kennedy was glad that his brother was now far, far away.

"Are you going to focus on any particular skills? I mean, for the pack?" Kennedy asked, curious to know if Pump had any special talents that she hoped to bring to the table. She seemed to know where to scavenge, and Edy knew that was a useful skill to have. As for Kennedy, he was not quite sure where his skills lay, although he did consider himself very level-headed.

Pump recalled Akhlut's speech during the meeting, when he had asked for the pack members to focus on a certain skill. She had forgotten about this up until now. Several notable things had happened - she had wandered away from the Ridge and got lost, Pied had been attacked, Jinx had challenged their alpha and left the pack with the little brat of hers - there had been no time to think about this.

And she doubted she would give any thought about it in the future. It was silly to focus on just one thing, when you needed to be at least average on everything else.

"Nah," she shrugged. "And you? What are you good at?"

Edy didn't consider himself particularly good at anything. Of course, being around his brother for nearly five years probably did some of that to him. Ulysses had always been better at everything compared to Kennedy. It was for that reason that Edy never really tried to become really good at any one thing. If he had, he knew that his brother would simply best him and throw all his work down the drain. Just thinking about it left a sour taste in his mouth.

"Nothing in particular, but it’s always been kind of a dream of mine to resolve conflict. Not that I suspect Horizon Ridge has a lot of that." It seemed pretty tame here, from what he could tell. Of course, he'd only been here a day, so it was entirely possible that he was misjudging the pack entirely. He did not consider himself an expert on resolving conflict, but he did think he could do it well if given the opportunity.

"Is this scavenging place, like, a day’s walk?" he asked, flashing Pump a half-joking look. They certainly hadn't been walking that long, but he was curious to know how long it would take them to get there.

"Just because it is peaceful now, doesn't mean that there won't be any conflict in the future," Pump said, although she couldn't imagine of what use a peacemaker would be, if a conflict between two packmates arised. Where two opinions clashed, no one needed a third party. Regardless of her opinion... people needed to believe that they were needed. She offered Edy an encouraging smile. "You'll find your place - everyone does," she had found hers after all. She didn't bother anyone else's lives and they didn't bother her.

"Impatient, aren't you?" she teased. "We will walk and see ourselves."

Kennedy was not sure if his dream would become a reality. It was entirely possible that he was destined for something else. That is, if he had believed in destiny. To be quite honest, he had never thought too long or too hard on supernatural forces such as gods, fate, or ghosts. Edy tended to stick to what he could see right in front of him. As far as he was concerned, nothing could be proven unless he could see it with his own eyes.

When she responded to his question with a tease of her own, it relaxed him. He was still unsure if she had completely forgiven him for his misstep in being humored by the thought of starvation, but at least she was willing to give him a second chance. The Xi tried not to dwell on the thought for too long, fearing that it would stir up those unsettling emotions all over again. Edy continued to trot with his nose somewhere in the vicinity of her shoulder, so they were side-by-side with her still leading the way.

They walked together in silence for the next ten or fifteen minutes - Edy probably deep in his own thoughts. Pump was thinking of nothing particular - one of the few states, when you live in the present and your mind is totally consumed by your surroundings. However, when they neared her place, her step became quicker and a satisfied grin appeared on her face.

"Stay here," she ordered, when they had come near her den place and the hidden stashes that were located all around the place. If one was careful enough, they would notice the faint scent of a slowly decaying carcass. Pump surveyed the place, then made a decision. The next moment she was digging vigorously near the fallen tree.

When she had recovered the hidden piece of meat, a strong stench of fermentation, salt and seaweeds. "Here," she brought something, what appeared to be a half eaten foot and threw it by Kennedy's feet. "Dig in deep and memorize the smell!" she ordered.

they definitely need another, but i'm going to go ahead and fade this one out here.

Kennedy did as told when they arrived, though he also craned his neck to try and see what she was doing. The familiar sound of dirt being flung this way and that gave her secret away, and Edy relaxed his posture. She was digging something up, and he would simply have to wait and see what it was once she was finished. It did not take long, and a foot was dropped at his feet (how amusing). He bent down to sniff it, only his eyes raising to look at her when she told him to memorize the smell.

Gingerly, he took the rather... strong-smelling piece of flesh in his mouth and began to gnaw on it, eventually lowering himself so that he could use his paws to clamp it to the ground. Kennedy twisted his head to one side, taking one of the ends into his mouth and biting down with his molars. After several sickening cracks and pops, the small piece of food had been devoured. Edy had never been picky about the food he ate, and this was no exception.

"Thanks, Pump. I’ll have to return the favor sometime." Perhaps it would show her that he really did have good will toward her. "I think I’m going to go find some water to wash this down with. You’re more than welcome to come along… unless you’re sick of me." The last part was said in jest, and Edy rose to his feet, pausing a moment to see if she would follow before scouting out a water source.