Redtail Rise there's no place for cowards here

@Oliver perhaps? :)

Ever vigilant, the Gamma trudged through the forest towards the borders. It was time for another border patrol. While trotting through the woods, he glanced up at the sky. Today was a nice day, he supposed, though wisps of white clouds still covered some parts of the sky, it reminded him of the day when the Heron wolf trespassed. Thinking about that made him think of his wound, it was healing nicely thanks to Reek's brutal, yet effective herbs. There would be a scar no doubt, but it would be a scar signifying his victory and his life as a proud warrior of the pack.

Arriving at the scent markers, he began making his way forward, pausing every other moment to lift a hind leg and spray his scent upon the borders, renewing the markers so even a Caldera wolf miles away would be able to smell where their territory started.

While patrolling, Arion wondered idly if there had been any newcomers in the pack other than Smash and Mercury, if a new member was in their midst, then the stallion would go and meet them after the patrol and size them up. Or better yet, meet them in the middle of the patrol and force them to patrol with him.

Hiya

After successfully proving himself to Reek, Oliver had become the newest member of the Redtail Rise pack. To celebrate he'd gone straight to one of the pack's caches and filled his face, then collapsed into a heap on the ground to sleep off the meal and his sore everything. He was still sound asleep as Arion was walking toward him, legs twitching as he was gripped by a nightmare. He was being slowly strangled by a giant, angry nettle plant.

Yo :)

Patrolling got on his nerves sometime, just staring into the distance in concentration and pissing on the borders, as well as purposely scratching his scent on trees, grass, boulders, it just wasn't what he liked doing. But it was something that was necessary, and now that Arion was getting attached to the Rise, he knew it had to be something he had to do every damn day. Didn't mean he had to enjoy it though.

Muttering under his breath in Greek, his keen honey eyes spotted a dark furred lanky form, the scent of the wolf was not someone he recognized. A newcomer then. Pausing in his steps, he gazed at the wolf for a moment, observing as the newbie's legs twitched.

Black nostrils inhaled heavily and among the thick individual scent of the wolf and the one of Redtail Rise, was the one of food. And not one of freshly slaughtered prey, but of the cache. Brief anger contorted his features before resorting to its normally stoic look. No newcomer would stuff its face with food without contributing to the borders or the caches first, not on his watch, the lazy arsehole needed to be taught a damn lesson.

Stalking forward, pawsteps silent, Arion attempted to grab the sleeping wolf's scruff and hoist him onto his paws roughly and probably brutally.

In his dream, Oliver thrashed and snapped wildly at the vines, fighting desperately to free himself to no avail. The plant wrapped itself around his neck and lifted him off his feet, and it was at the point the sleeping wolf was jarred awake by Arion's jaws closing around his scruff. "Arg! Let go! Let go!" Oliver cried out in terror and confusion as he was forcefully dragged to his feet. The skinny wolf managed to wiggle free from Arion's grasp and scrambled to get away from him, but his legs turned to jello and he crashed into the ground. He stayed down for a moment as he tried to catch his breath and recover from his fright.

Once his heart had stopped racing, Oliver rolled over onto his back and glared up at the other wolf.  "What the hell man!?" he demanded angrily. 

His jaws closed around the lanky boy's scruff and forcefully dragged him to his feet, ignoring the screams of pain and surprise, but before he could shake the bag of bones, the newcomer managed to wriggle out of his iron grip and scrambled to get away from him. Arion watched with concealed amusement in his honey eyes as the wolf crashed onto the ground like a pathetic lump of shit. The stoic wolf did not so much as blink when the boy rolled onto his back and glared at him, demanding angrily.

Velvety chocolate ears flattened against his skull as Arion peeled his black lips back to reveal sharp fangs. His tail rose dominantly over his back, he was the third highest rank in the pack after all and no low rank would be so disrespectful to him. Normally warm honey eyes were cold and fierce as he glared back at the wolf, staring straight into the other male's eyes, silently challenging him, asking if he dared to be so insubordinate.

"Don't be so rude," the stallion crooned silkily, though by his posture, the boy should know it was a command. Quickly though, he regained his stoic look and spat, "You come into our pack, stuff your face and go to sleep? It doesn't matter if you arrived starving and about to fucking die. You hunt for the pack before you can eat, you serve the pack before you do anything relaxing."

Oliver's pale eyes widened in fear as Arion loomed over him with teeth bared. Don't be so rude, the big man commanded. Oliver swallowed hard. "I'm sorry," he squeaked in a tiny voice, hoping his apology would be enough to spare himself from a brutal butt whooping. As much as he wanted to, he didn't point out the Gamma's hypocrisy. He was the one who had so rudely woken poor sleeping Oliver, after all.

But when Arion began to lecture him about eating and sleeping before working, Oliver protested. "Oh give me a break, man," he said with a groan. "I hadn't eaten in like 2 weeks and hadn't slept in days!" He was exaggerating a bit, of course, but he had indeed been very hungry and tired after his long travels and completing Reek's little errand on top of that. Certainly he'd be of more use to the pack now that he had a full belly and a good rest, but this guy didn't seem to think so. "I was gonna replace all the stuff eventually," he said, referring to the emptied cache.

Oliver's eyes widened and he squeaked out a fearful apology when Arion loomed over him with his lips pulled back and sharp fangs bared at his packmate. As far as he was concerned, waking up Oliver had not been a bad move but one with reason behind it, it had to be done, no wolf who lived in the Rise could think they could have a home without doing anything for the pack. No slackers would live in Redtail Rise, not as long as he was living here.

Just when Arion was about to let the dude go, Oliver began protesting in the most disrespectful way, saying for the Gamma to give him a break and that he hadn't eaten in two weeks and hadn't slept in days. The chocolate wolf scoffed, "Thats only because you're probably a pathetic hunter and defender, you'll get no pity from me," he was starting to like this newbie.

"You will replace all the stuff now. But first things first, get up and patrol with me. I won't have you lazing around, relaxing underneath the sun," but the fierce glint was gone now, a twinkle of amusement replacing it. Flicking his tail, he motioned for the boy to follow him. "Do you have a name kid? Or do I have to call you newbie?"

 You'll get no pity from me. Oliver flattened his ears and scowled at Arion. 'He sounds just like my dad, great,' he muttered to himself. He'd traveled for weeks, hundreds of miles through dirt and heat and exhaustion, just to be back in the same situation he'd left behind. History was beginning to repeat itself, now he could hear the same old talk from someone new. Woohoo.

 Yet when Arion commanded him to get up and join him on a patrol, Oliver picked himself up, shook the dirt from his fur and obediently fell into step beside him. He'd never actually been on a patrol before, back home, patrol was something reserved only for the higher-ups. He didn't know why Arion had offered him this chance, but it sounded official and important and he wanted in.

 As they walked the big brown wolf asked him his name, his phrasing matching Reek's almost word for word. "You know, you're the second guy to say that to me," Oliver remarked with a crooked smile. "It's Oliver, and you are?"

The black wolf rose onto his paws, shook himself and obediently fell in step beside the chocolate Gamma. He did not speak — or so he thought — which was a relief to Arion, he liked to be sarcastic and snarky but only on wolves like Reek or Saena (wolves he knew well) or clueless newcomers who didn't speak back to him. Oliver was bold, it was a good thing, but he would do well to remember not to be so bold around the warrior unless they knew each other better.

Arion laughed softly, a smirk curving on his lips. "Was it Reek?" he questioned good naturedly, because he knew no other wolf who would speak so similarly. "Oliver huh, well, its nice to meet you I suppose," he smiled crookedly. "My name's Arion, Gamma and Warrior of Redtail Rise." Pausing for a moment, the brown wolf lifted a hind leg and sprayed his scent on the border markers.

 "Yeah it was, actually," Oliver answered, surprised Arion had been able to guess right away. "You guys, like, compare notes or something?" he asked. He listened as Arion went on to introduce himself as a Gamma and a warrior, and nodded. "Cool," he replied, impressed.

 "So, does anything ever happen on patrol?" Oliver asked as they walked. The whole patrolling thing was quickly turning out to be pretty dull. He'd been hoping for more excitement, like a chasing off a trespasser or getting in a fight. Suddenly Arion stopped, lifted his leg and peed on the ground. "Should I be peeing on stuff too?" Oliver asked, confused.

Arion laughed, a soft chuckle that warmed the air (not like the air wasn't warm enough already) at Oliver's question. "No, he's just the only wolf other than me would would say something like that in this pack, he used to be quite the sarcastic snarky jokester. He still is, of course, but no longer what he was like when I first saw him." He kept the wistfulness from his voice and expression when he said that, it was no good to let his emotions reign on patrol. Actually, it was no good to let emotions reign over logic anywhere.

"You better earn a trade too kid, or you'll get a free ticket out soon. And I'll be watching you very closely to see if you're lazing around and slacking off or actually working to contribute to the pack," while the statement was said in a rather carefree voice, it was clear that he meant what he said. No threats needed to be issued verbally, if Oliver was smart, he would have known the hidden threat underneath his casual words.

"You stupid or what?" Arion said incredulously at the boy's question. "Man, you really are so green you shit grass huh?" Shaking his proud chocolate crown, the stallion stopped and explained, "We piss on the ground to renew the scent markers, or how else are we suppose to mark this land as ours? Of course there are other methods but this is the most traditional. You ain't no greenie any longer, you're an adult, kid, you gotta know this kind of thing." While he might sound as if he was saying Oliver was stupid, his intentions were true and good, he just had 0 social skills whatsoever.

 Oliver knit his brow and frowned. "I was gunna work at my trades, you don't have to babysit me," he said. He did not like the way Arion was talking to him right now at all, and he really didn't like the idea of the big brown wolf circling him like a buzzard, watching and waiting for an excuse to swoop down and boot him out. If Oliver had never met Reek and Saena, and instead met Arion at the border that day, he'd have never joined the pack. The big man didn't exactly make him feel welcomed. "Jeez man, I haven't even been here a whole day yet, gimme a break," he implored the warrior. Oliver wondered, did the Gamma treat everyone like this, or did he have it in for him for some reason? Maybe that's why the pack was so small, he kept chasing everyone off because they weren't good enough.

"I know what scent marking is," he attempted to interrupt and explain, "I was only asking because where I'm from, only high ranking wolves do patrols and mark borders." Whether Arion had meant to upset him or not, Oliver was feeling deeply disrespected. Unless the chocolate male apologized for the way he was treating him, Oliver was likely to split off and finish the patrol on his own.

Arion only cocked his head in an amused manner in reply to Oliver's statement about how he didn't need to babysit him. Gods forbid, he didn't actually think that the Gamma would have time to watch him 24/7 and see if he would put a foot out of line so the warrior could kick him out of the pack did he? The last thing the stallion wanted to do was to exile the boy from Redtail Rise, they needed able bodies and although Oliver didn't look like he was going to work yet, Arion was sure that with time, the rangy kid would be able to protect the Rise just like they all did. Besides, the Greek did like Oliver despite his attitude towards him.

Arion blinked at the black wolf's next words about giving him a break. Breaks didn't exist around here until you earned them but he decided not to threaten the boy any longer, perhaps the wolves around here were growing weaker and weaker with each passing day. Breaks..who needed breaks?

The stallion flicked his chocolate ears towards Oliver when he interrupted him and attempted to explain. Perhaps he had treated the boy a bit too severely....damn it, how did these wolves even work. How did their brains work? Why were they so...weird? "Well everyone patrols around here, whether they're of low rank or of high. Everyone contributes," Arion said with a flick of his tail and decided that perhaps...he should apologize for his behavior. These manners were so damn annoying. "Sorry kid, but I'm not good with people. I treat every newcomer like this, so don't take it personally."

I feel like this is a good place to end. Let's have another sometime :)

Arion apologized, but it did not take the sting out of his words. The warrior went on to explain that he wasn't good with people and he treated every newcomer this way. This did little to console Oliver. "No shit, you're not good with people? You made a great first impression on me!" Oliver retorted. He rarely talked back to anyone this way, especially not to muscle-bound warriors twice his size, but Arion had upset him enough that he didn't care. "Maybe next time instead of insulting them first thing, try saying hello like a normal person or something."

Oliver huffed at the big wolf and brushed past him, he did not even stick around to see how Arion would respond to him. After a while he'd cool off and maybe then they could talk, but right now he couldn't tolerate the Greek's presence any longer.

(Oliver exits)

Truth to be told, Arion was rather surprised at Oliver's reaction to his apology. He, the higher ranking, usually stoic, genius warrior was apologizing to a lowly, rangy newbie like himself. For gods's sake, shouldn't the newcomer be bowing down to him, kneeling and kissing his paws in gratitude that the Greek even bothered to open his maw and utter 'sincere' words of apology to him. These days, people were so blind to the limits he went to please them. Okay, maybe he was being a bit too inconsiderate and rude to the youth, but he had always been this way and usually the person he was 'abusing' would speak back so the scale was balanced.

Apparently, not everyone was that smart. But then, the stallion should have known.

An amused smirk played at his lips as Oliver talked back to him. For once, he did not ignore the male altogether, but actually took the time to prick his ears and listen attentively to what the boy was saying, after all, technically he could use some advice with dealing with people like him. Yeah, he really needed some help in that area. "I'll try," he called after the rangy boy's back as he walked away. Rude. But perhaps he had been ruder.

Didn't matter now.

Arion shrugged and made his way back to the forest, he had some hunting to do.