Phoenix Maplewood And I never like to admit that I was wrong*

A cool wind blows in from the north and with it, a slow drift of snow from the sky. The first snow of the season, in fact. It passes over the glacier and heads south-east, directly in line with Phoenix Maplewood. By mid-afternoon, flakes are falling on the skeletal treetops of the wood, which only recently shed the last of its leaves, and the residing pack's alpha female looks skyward as one lands squarely on the tip of her nose.

She has been stalking a porcupine for the last half an hour, but she pauses to take in the dim clouds and the light snow falling. "Hello again", she greets the sky with a thin smile. She's only lived through one winter and it was an unpleasant one. She wordlessly hopes that this one is better, but Saena is at least wise enough to know not to bet on it. Whatever her feelings toward Lasher currently are, the druid was rarely wrong and he had predicted a harsh winter, so she mentally prepares herself for that.

She huffs a breath gently and watches it curl briefly in front of her lips before disappearing. It isn't cold enough yet for it to blow away like smoke, but the faint wisp is there all the same. The wolves couldn't escape winter forever, no matter how they deny it, but it can't be allowed to put their lives on hold. She marvels at the first snow, growing stronger by the minute, for only a moment longer, then begins to move again along the porcupine's trail.

@Ukko

Present tense challenge

I was trying to think of the last time we played together--aside from the Tavi thread, and the last I can honestly remember is Tantamount and Love.

With the first sign of an actual winter, Ukko is thankful for his thick coat.  The summer, not so much, but his thick coat is put to good use.  It does its job to keep the cold weather from penetrating to his skin.  He isn’t a big toasty sauna underneath his dark fur but it keeps the bite away.  The snow collects on his fur, frosting him into speckled salt and pepper,  Ukko wrinkles his nose as the wind shifts, snowflakes sticking to the wet tip of his snout. 

He catches scent of Saena whom he hadn’t seen since the disaster with Tavi—how did that even pull off?—and alters his route.  He leaves large paw prints in the snow as he tracks her, finding a set of foot prints perpendicular to his path.  Ukko follows it with a trot until he comes upon her.  Ukko chuffs quietly for attention so he doesn’t startle her, his tail lazily wagging behind him and his head even with his form.

Hmmm, possibly Tobias and Love? I don't think Bragi ever interacted with Love or Key. Damn, I miss Tantamount and Kano, heh.

The rodent is crafty. Saena follows its trail to the base of a thick tree, where its trail immediately disappears. Careful inspection of the bark tells the hunter that it climbed up recently. It may have come down, but the alpha female gives up on the hunt for now. There's no guarantee she'll find its trail again, and there are plenty of other scent trails she can follow in search of creatures less inclined to climb trees. Like a deer mouse, which she catches the scent of about two feet from the tree.

She's about to begin on this trail when a voice interrupts her. She rises and twists her head around to smile at Ukko. She doesn't know much about the broad dark-haired man except that he tends the borders diligently and seems to have a knack for finding those who need a pack to live in. She still has no idea that his intent was never to bring Tavi into Phoenix Maplewood. Saena assumes he brought her there intentionally. This is a good thing for Tavi and possibly for Ukko, but does almost nothing to legitimize Saena's claim on the maplewood and everything to prove she's a little gullible at times.

"Hey Ukko", she greets him warmly in spite of the fact they are near strangers to one another. Had she a tail, she'd have wagged it in kind. Instead she droops her ears to a relaxed position at the sides of her head and asks, "did you need me for anything?"

Ahh, yeah.  Maybe it was then.  It was definitely before the big fire that changed everything.  I didn't spend a lot of time there after that.  I think I was there long enough to give Love her ending.  And yeah, I definitely miss them.  I like to pretend Kano got a happy ending since I never got to accomplish that for him.

The younger woman greets him and Ukko offers a smile.  His posture relaxes for the approach and when she didn’t reject his company, his tail picks up speed behind him.  It whips past the backs of his legs and he legs his head relax rather evenly with his body.  He may not know much about the other, but he’d like to make a chance to that.  He shakes his head, though, for there isn’t anything in particular he needs from her.  Nothing of importance, anyway.

“Just thought I would stop to see if you need anything,” he offers with a nonchalant shrug, “or if you had some time to spare for one of your members?”  

The curiosity in his voice makes it apparent his intentions.  There isn’t anything bothering him that he needs guidance for but he does yearn for the companionship of his leader.  The lack of knowledge between the two gave them enough to get to know but where to start, Ukko’s left a little blank and awkwardly stands there, trying to bid him some time before he makes a fool of himself.  

They don't know each other well—at all, really—but Saena is at ease. Within the pack's territory, she feels a sense of invincibility. It's imagined, of course, and likely one day her belief in it will be demolished by a pack mate with less-than-good intentions, but for now, she trusts Ukko simply for being here. He'd already brought one wolf into the pack—Tavi—and so has a better track record than most Phoenix members. While it's a long shot to say he's well-liked if only because she scarcely knows him, Saena sees a lot of value in him.

"I've always got time," she answers with a smile. The only time she doesn't is when she's hunting or travelling, and even then she's willing to spare minutes. The ground is chill, though, so she motions for him to walk with her and continues her slow meander through the woods.

"How did you find this pack, anyway?" she wonders aloud. She's not entirely willing to admit that they got few visitors and that their ranks are often unchanging, but she's curious how he came across it, how he decided to join it.

She’s given him the time and a smile forms on Ukko’s features, softened and relaxed, while he considers what he might want out of this.  He didn’t have a plan when he approached, other than the need to know his leaders better and to give them a chance to see him for who he is and that he’s worth his weight in salt, if not more.  Of course, Ukko knows he’s a little biased and it’s his former home hadn’t been willing to hold on to him, perhaps he is better suited for a life here anyway.  

“Well,” he starts, though he’s unsure of how to really answer, “it came up in my travels.  It’s the only one that made me feel like I should join another pack.”

It’s not a detailed answer, in fact it’s rather vague, but he doesn’t have a good response.  He’d traveled from his home to here with packs in between but none of them he would stay long enough to become a member.  When he came to Phoenix Maplewood, something told him to stick around for a while this time.  “Whatever it was, I don’t feel like it’s the wrong choice and I hope you guys can agree,” he tells her with a swift wag of his tail. 

“What of you?  What’s your story?”

Ukko's explanation is indeed quite vague but Saena can relate in a way. Had she never succumbed to her budding ambition, she might still live at the plateau to this day, but something had told her to move on from there. The snow is coming down faster now but Saena scarcely notices it, she's too busy trying to imagine how it must have felt for Ukko to come across a pack that felt right. She is honoured that it's her pack, having long felt like Phoenix Maplewood is out of the way and unpopular for that reason. She wishes to know more of his backstory, but there'll be time for that later, she's sure.

He calls into question her own and she snorts with brief laughter. "It's much too long," she tells him, wholly believing that her life has been remarkably difficult and that her story is longer and more tragic than anyone else's. Her downfall: her pride. "Basically I left home because I didn't think I'd get the chances I wanted there, founded a pack on a ridge, met Reek and made some friends, but there was a fire. We moved here and most of those friends disappeared in the process." Nochtli still hasn't returned from her personal mission—Saena no longer believes the woman will return—and Citali's departure was so sudden that Saena still hasn't come to terms with it. The others—Oliver, Gunnar, Mercury—she still has no idea where they are.

"Been here ever since. It's been quiet, mostly, though we did get a bear come through her on a rampage, which is when I lost my tail."

Instead of asking more about his life before now and how he came across the pack, she delves into her own history.  There isn’t a lot of detail but he gets the idea and it’s enough to satisfy his curiosity.  The blood of the pack runs much deeper and wider than Phoenix Maplewood.  It would take time before he could really weasel himself into the veins of his new home but the time would come.  He’d prove it to them, to himself.  

She speaks of the bear and he glances back to see it missing, as if he hadn’t seen it before, but doesn’t comment on it.  Askha’s words come to mind though and he glances back, putting his attention on the leader once more.

“Ashka mentioned there had been some trouble on the borders.  Before I got here,” he begins.  “One tried to challenge you?” The female he’d met on his first day didn’t have all the details or hadn’t been willing to give them to him. Saena might not either but interest gets the better of him. 

Ukko seemingly had no comment about the pack's history, brief and vague as she'd told it. She wasn't sure if it was because he didn't care to learn about his pack's past or because he really had nothing to say, but she decided to believe the latter, for once. Jumping to the most offensive conclusion was sort of her specialty, but she was growing up every day. Sometimes, she judged others fairly.

He proved her right when he asked about an intruder. There'd been a few, but Saena remembered the one he was talking about most keenly. Not even a year old, the female had walked brazenly into their pack as if she really believed the wolves would turn their allegiance over to a snotty kid who demanded it. "Yep," said Saena, "walked on in here like she owned the place. She died for that." In the end, the youth had almost begged for her life with whimpers and cries, but the Phoenix Maplewood pack had proven unmerciful. With Citali gone, the atmosphere of the pack was less vicious, but still, with Saena at their head, she knew the pack would never forgive a trespass.

"Some wolves are plain stupid," she said with a shrug. She'd met those who didn't have even basic instincts, who made her question how they were still alive. She'd also met those who did have instincts even greater than hers, who socialized in the ancient way and did not make friends readily. It took all sorts, but the maplewood welcomed primarily those who were neither stupid nor barbaric.

Short post.  Maybe they can fade off to hunt?  I realized while writing this that I actually had something I wanted to accomplish for this but apparently I forgot and never got it there. Oh well.

Saena’s tone as she speaks about the other wolf causes Ukko to chuckle inwardly, a smirk on his features. The alpha may be small, young, but it sets a certain imagine among her followers, for Ukko.  He doesn’t need the other side of the story to know more than he can gather. In short: she scares Ukko just a little bit more. 

“Clearly,” he tells her, clearing his throat. He tries not to think of his own stupidity before coming to maplewood. Boys being boys some might say but things he can no longer correct.  

Ukko’s stomach rumbles and he wrinkles his nose.  “Hungry?”

Well, at least Ukko wasn't stupid. It was Saena's hidden fear that someday, somebody would find fault in the maplewood pack's callous decision to kill a young wolf for one foolish mistake. Hell, it was her hidden fear that someday, somebody would call her out on all her past bullshit. She liked to think she kept parts of herself well hidden, but sometimes she wore her heart on her sleeve and sometimes her eyes opened straight into her soul. Anyone who spent much time with her would soon realize she was just as youthful and ignorant as any yearling, in spite of her seeming success. She'd got lucky, but she would never admit it to anyone.

His question elicits an automatic response: "always." Okay, well, she wasn't always hungry, but Saena also didn't do much weight watching. If there was food around, you'd bet she'd go right for it. It was only natural, in the event that there wasn't any food for a while. Without hesitation, she slipped into the guise of a master tracker—although she's far from master of anything at her age—and it wasn't long before she picked up the scent of pronghorn. They were rare in the woods, but tended to collect out on the plains. Probably one passing through.

She gestured with her snout and headed off into the trees to seek it out with Ukko.

Maybe we can get to it in another thread if it's still relevant and if it could fit in! Feel free to fade properly in your post or archive it here as a fade, doesn't matter to me!