firebreather

ooc: all welcome! set in the afternoon :)

Pitch yawned lazily, the cinnamon coated girl had just finished a little hunt and while she was happy she had found a couple of hares she still was feeling...lackluster. It was different not being surrounded by family like she was used to and she missed her parents and her siblings. It was nice here though, and being called a Dragon was interesting. She remembered the games her father would play with them - sometimes he was a mighty dragon that had to be destroyed.

It made her smile, thinking of him. While she was so very fond of her mother - she looked so much like her after all! - she was at heart a Daddy's Girl.

She wondered if her leaders were around, the pack still seemed rather small but she was happy to get to know them all the same. She let out a little bark, nothing too crazy loud, but if they were around they were welcome to her kill. She certainly wouldn't mind the company!

Hello hello =D

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He'd just happened upon the neighborhood when a somewhat invitation lured his attention. Twin audits flicked forward and then flat again with a good natured woof of return sent back to his fellow packmate...the rhythm of his footsteps falling nearer at his approach. The pack he lead was thus far small and feeble - and ironically only female inhabited aside from himself - but he believed in it nonetheless. And a surefire way of letting everyone know that was to bond with his members at any given opportunity.

"Well it looks like we have ourselves a hunter already!" he chimed while appraising the item resting at her paws. He, having no qualms against pointing out how little they knew one another, immediately inquired, "Where you a good provider back home for your family?"

Hi lovely :D

Pitch didn't have to wait long before she was answered. The girl respectfully dropped her gaze when Ariston approached, not only was he her Alpha, but he happened to be the only male so far in their little tangle. She was still warming up to him, having spent very little time around men she wasn't related to. "Hello Sir!" She chirped, pushing past her awkwardness (or trying to) to greet him.

He asked her if she had been much of a provider for the family, and in contrast to how it was when her older sister had been born, thankfully the Delarosa pack had never known famine since. "I've always been good at hunting small game actually, it was something that kept me busy." She said with a grin. Out of a litter of five, you could easily get lost in the fray. "Been busy so far today?' She asked in return, knowing that since there were so few of them everyone needed to...ahem, pitch in.

A grin slipped onto the corners of his lips when Pitch's respectful quip reached his ears. The girls of his pack were so serious! "Just Ariston," he insisted with a bob of his head. "Or if you're a fan of nicknames you can call me Ax." [Note: Ariston Xene]

He listened to her brief history blurb and couldn't help but wonder what his sisters were doing lately to quell their boredom. What more was there for them to do without having big brother around to torment? "Between you and me," he said with a feigned whisper of secrecy, "I wasn't all that great at hunting. My sisters insisted my footsteps sounded like thunder in the sky." Chortling as he remember one failed hunt too many he turned his nose skyward and gestured toward the ominous gathering of clouds above.

"More mentally busy than physically," he admitted while golden hues trailed a windswept nebula. "Keep wondering if it's going to rain...and if it does where are we going to take shelter. I haven't taken the time to assign dens to everyone." The latter admission made his tail sweep sheepishly. He really was going along with this alpha business by the seat of his pants.

it probably didn't help that the girl had never lived in a pack where her leadership didn't consist of her family. She had no idea exactly how she should behave so she instead defaulted with perhaps going too far. When he suggested she call him something far less authoritative an even offered up his nickname, she couldn't hide the hint of a smile that toyed at her lips. "Well, Ax it is then." She committed it to memory, though there was a strong chance that she would fumble the next time she addressed him directly.

He let her in on his secret and she looked up at him with doe like, sweet silver eyes. "Your secret is safe with me, I swear on my life not to tell the others!" She offered in a good natured way. She didn't know really why her Mother had insisted all of the children learned to hunt, and well, but it had stuck with her. Little did she know the young couple had faced a famine of all things the winter her sister had been born.

She looked up briefly, trying to judge the weather pattern herself, she was not sure when they would see rain but it did seem like they might have some hiccups soon enough. "Well....we could store these somewhere, maybe look for a safehouse?" Considering how few of them there were it wouldn't be too difficult anyways. "We could can always expand later, after all." She was sure there were lots of lovely places they could hole up in, at least in the temporary before some sort of storm rolled in and swept them all away.

Contrary to her concerns of being too informal Ariston was gladdened that she felt comfortable enough to immediately make use of his nickname...a moniker that hadn't gotten much since he'd left home. He felt that leaders typically fell into two categories: those that craved control and those that craved companionship. Ax was definitely of the latter; he wanted a group around him that were friends as much as they were subordinates.

"Haha!" he laughed when she made her oath. "You sound just as serious as Koontz!" And then promptly realizing that Pitch's lack of familiarity with the beta might make her wonder if the notion was to be taken as an insult he waved one paw dismissively and added, "Which is a good thing."

At her suggestion he nodded sagely...mentally calculating the lay of the land as best he could given the small length of time he'd had to study it. He couldn't exactly recall oodles of secret caves on his border patrol but there were at least a few small, abandoned caverns dug into the knolls of the western half of the territory. But would they flood? Would they collapse? The slew of concerns made a slight line appear between his brows and he found himself immensely troubled that the actual fates of his pack mates now depended on his ability to make decisions.

Alpha life was going to be trickier than he'd thought.

"Do you want to help look for one?" he asked as he stepped forward and nudged the smaller wolf with his nose. "A safe house for the group I mean. You can tell me about yourself along the way!"

She did tilt her head until he explained the joke; she had yet to meet Koontz but it was safe to assume that this was one of the two other scents in the pack. Since the female smell was much stronger than the other male's scent it was a fair assumption that it belonged to Koontz. It was an odd name, in the opinion of someone who's name matched a theme passed down for many generations in her clan. It made her wonder what the rest of the family was named for. "My poker face is working then, I see." She said with a grin and the flick of her tail.

When he asked if she would join him she wasn't going to hesitate in helping out. Doing her fair share was only the beginning of what she should offer considering they had taken her in and all. Of course, with only three of them before her it didn't serve to be too picky but she appreciated it all the same. Sure thing Ax," She said and looked out across the area. They had a rather unique turf after all. It provided a weird sort of shelter; it was so much harder for anything to get to them here.

"What did you have in mind? A quiet little wooded area, something with stone walls? What would be your dream home?" She asked, wondering as they set off if he had a preference.

As they walked together he put a great deal of thought into what might make an ideal home...though with enough concentration any home had its flaws. "I grew up in a pretty standard hole in the ground," he shared with a somewhat whimsical expression. It wasn't often that he truly missed home but ever-so-often he yearned for his birth family to be near. Especially when he realized they'd likely never hear of his newfound success. "But it's not like that's particularly practical for an increasing number of wolves." Obviously he was pretty positive that they'd be gaining more members...especially with Koontz on the prowl.

"Have you seen any caves? Preferably without bears?" he inquired in case Pitch was saving a discovery for a later point in the conversation. He hadn't yet ascertained what sort of personality she had but had an inkling that she was overall a very honest - and earnest - young girl; the kind of which likely wouldn't hold back from him on purpose. But it never hurt to ask!

Pitch had lived most of her days in a cave that had a lovely old oak tree out front. It had been extremely peaceful and beautiful,but that was the difference really. Delarosa Grove was not meant to be a powerful pack, it was built for and around family. "I grew up in a cave, actually." She said with a smile. The first winter the family had been nervous about the previous homeowner coming back to find them, but thankfully it hadn't happened. Instead they had lived pretty happily there safe and sound. The only part that had ever been unpleasant was when water would rise inside the cave and they would spend a couple days drying out.

"Well, to be blunt there's a lot of the land I haven't really investigated yet. Most of my time has been spent out hunting, and checking the borders." It wasn't as if they were fighting off intruders, but as with any new lands there was always the chance a curious creature would come to close. "But, we could check out any rocky areas, see if there's something worth setting up there?" She canted her head, looking at her Alpha for guidance. He knew the lands better than she did after all, so it seemed the most logical that she followed his lead in this regard.