Redtail Rise We built this city on rock 'n' roll

After her exhausting trip, Junior slept long and hard. When she rose the morning following her arrival at Redtail Rise, her mouth was as dry as a baked riverbed. The parched yearling quickly sought a source of water, then drank deeply. Still blinking sleep from her eyes, she reposed on her black haunches and tried to gather her bearings.

She knew exactly what she needed to do next: explore her new home and seek out her new pack mates. Licking her damp lips, Junior rose back onto her paws and deliberated over whether to move upward or downward. Eventually, she began to climb. She wanted to check out what kind of views this place boasted. She followed an old deer trail, her mind blissfully clear despite the crazy events of the past few days.

     Morning had arrived to pull the ragged wolf away from his comfortable slumber in it's usual and predictable way.  The weak morning light poured through the narrow opening of his humble den and on to the Reek's face, forcing him to stir himself awake in his usual begrudging fashion.  Reek wasn't really a morning wolf, or an afternoon wolf for that matter. And the older he got, the more tired he became. Even though he had just turned three recently, he was beginning to feel the aches of age.  

    Rising to shaky limbs, he carefully pulled himself out of the den that sat atop the ridge to look down at the newly claimed territory that sprawled before him.  Home.  The bastard grinned weakly at the prospect.  He had finally done it.  He had finally found a proper pack to reside in.  One that would be far more stable than the sirens ever could have been... and Reek was happy. 

    Reek began his descent down the ridge with his trademark grin plastered across muzzle.  On his way down he caught sight of what he believed to be one of Saena's new recruits, making her ascent up.  "Hey there!" Shouted the ragged wolf down the ridge, tail wagging lazily behind him.  "You new?"  Reek quickly shook his head, of course she was new.  They all were.  However, it was far too early to think of anything smarter to say.

I love that he's modeled after Steve Buscemi!

A voice broke through the morning stillness and Junior paused in her step, head lifting to regard the caller. Her eyes fell upon one of the homeliest wolves she had ever seen. Having been an ugly duckling once upon a time (not to mention her scars), she wasn't one to judge. It was simply an observation: dude was ugly. She smiled up at him, then waved her tail and proceeded to ascend until she reached him.

"Hey," she said, a little out of breath after her climb. "Aren't we all?" she rejoined with a laugh. "I'm Junior, Saena's prodigal sister. Who're you?"

The Buscemi is love, the Buscemi is life.

    Reek shook his head in awkward embarrassment. "Shit— right.  Too early, brain pththth," he groggily joked with a toothy grin while blowing a raspberry with his tongue out.  It would take a few hours for the initial haze of morning to pass and for Reek to turn into a functional member of society.  Functional is a term used very loosely in this case.  Too bad wolves didn't have coffee... caffeine cures all woes.

    "Good to have you 'round then," he continued, giving Junior a quick nudge with his shoulder.  Saena's sister, eh?  Well, family tended to be a good thing to have around... though the bastard wouldn't have known.  His family was the textbook definition of dysfunctional.  "You can call me Reek,"  he introduced with a toothy grin.

She smiled at his quip, understanding all too well what he meant. When he nudged her, the familiarity surprised her. But Junior would be a liar if she said it didn't please her in a way too. She had been sort of late to the party and she wasn't sure what Saena's earlier recruits might make of her just showing up like this. It seemed this one would accept her just as easy as you please.

Junior blinked her mismatched eyes when he offered his name. "Reek? Like... reek?" she asked in disbelief. Somehow, it fit. "I'm sorry, but how did you get a name like that?" she couldn't help but wonder.

      Junior's incredulous reaction didn't surprise the ragged wolf one bit.  In his travels, Reek's name, or lack there-of, was usually the source of prying questions into his past, his upbringing, and the general shit-storm that his initial forays into pack life had been.  It was a common thing to question the uncommon, and Reek had explained his namesake numerous times to curious travelers and pack-mates alike... however, telling the same stories tends to get old.  "Would you believe me if I told you, it was just because I smell?"  he asked with a friendly grin.

     "But, that would be a lie," he continued, not giving her the proper time to answer.  "I was born a good, long way from the Teekon Wilds in a very savage place up north.  I was bastard born, and the Alpha particularly didn't take to kindly to that.  Figured, my pops was making a power-play from under him and the Alpha— well, he executed him."

     "Where I'm from, those like me are usually killed once their born.  However, my father was the Alpha's brother... the two were relatively close.  Crazy, I fucking know.  The guy still executes him, but can't bring himself to kill the pups.  Reek, isn't a name.  It's a title used to make an example."

     "However... I like it," he quipped, wrapping up his quick biographical spiel.  "Tell me Junior.  How bout you?  Is there a Senior I should know?

I was gonna ask... Junior thought when he remarked about his smell as a child, though she didn't say anything. She let Reek tell his story, which was quite a cruel one. She grimaced slightly, sympathizing. Her upbringing hadn't been that rough, yet she knew what it was like to have a troubled childhood and a broken family. Like her, Reek seemed to have overcome adversity. He seemed rather well-adjusted, in spite of his unseemly name and shabby appearance.

He finished by insisting he actually liked his strange moniker, then asking about her own. Junior didn't reply immediately. She hadn't though of Osprey Sr. in a while. She didn't really feel like delving into family history, either. But she didn't want to lie to a brand new pack mate, so she just shrugged and said, "Sort of, though it's ancient history. I like to think of myself as a standalone, anyway."

"Hey," she said in the next beat, "I was climbing to the top to check out the views, then do some exploring otherwise. Wanna come with?"

     Reek had returned to his relatively upbeat and positive demeanor with ease after finishing his long winded explanation.  The past was long gone; only a bitter memory that hung from a thread from the edge of his mind. The ragged wolf was not one to dwell on days gone by;  there was only now, and now was good.  Bad memories tended to fester when tended to, growing into perverse weeds that tangle the mind and progress into mental illness, which was a negative side that the ragged wolf refused to feed. 

    His toothy grin returned as Junior began began to speak.  Reek could relate to her sentiment of independance, as he had left his dysfunctional shit-storm of a family as soon as he possibly could.  However, daddy issues seemed to be of the common sort.

    "Yeah, yeah.  Sure,"  said Reek in a tone of tired excitement as he turned on his heels to begin the re-ascent up the ridge.  "I'd love to.  It's fantastic up there...  I dug my den at the peak so I could see it every morning.  Although, It's a pain in the ass to get up to,"  he continued with a light chuckle.  Pulling himself up the ridge every night for the last few weeks had been a physical struggle, however, to Reek it was all worth the trouble.

     "So tell me Junior," beamed Reek, slowing his ascent as he turned his head back to Junior.  "What brought you to the rise? Other than family, of course."

Reek seemed game and began to lead the way, with Junior falling into step beside and slightly behind him. He mentioned establishing a den near the top of the ridge line. She pondered this. Where would she like to live? Did she even want to keep a den? Would Saena want Junior to live with her? These questions circled through Junior's mind, not unlike the hawks that tended to circle the rise.

"That's it, pretty much. I came here to support my sister," the yearling answered Reek's question honestly. "I'm kind of a..." She had been about to self-deprecate, yet she remembered Saena's term and finished by saying, "An adventurer. I move around a lot. I'm a true blue Outrider." Junior's lips twitched. "I guess you could say Redtail Rise is my latest adventure." It could become more, maybe, but she wasn't making any promises to herself or anybody else. She had learned to avoid that.

     It would have been painfully obvious to anyone below who watched the ragged wolf attempt to scale the precarious incline of the ridge, that he was not of the physical sort. However, Reek was a being without shame and could care less about how foolish he looked as he clumsily bounded to the peak of the rise... he was having fun, so screw it.   His shoulders slouched as he put one left leg in front of the other, awkwardly stumbling his way up the ridge while Junior continued to talk in his ear.

    Kind of a what?  Reek thought to ask when her voice trailed off as she answered his question.  However, she was quick to provide additional information after her pause.  Though Reek was pursuing becoming one of the pack's outsiders, he saw himself as more a diplomat than an adventurer.  The wanderlust of travel had long died in the days he spent wandering to the sea.  Shit got old.  Now, the ex-vagrent craved stability more than anything.  However, he could still understand the underlying craving for adventure.  

    Reek stopped his forward motion and turned to his new acquaintance.  "Tell you what," he began, looking to see how much distance separated them from the peak. A toothy smirk spread across his maw. "I'll race you to the top.  Winner gets, er, we'll figure that out."  It had been a while since Reek had had some lighthearted fun.  "I'll count us off.  Three... Two—" Before finishing Reek took off toward the peak as fast as he could, leaving behind Junior in the dust to catch up with him.   

He proposed a race. Before Junior could reply, he took off up the mountain. Her mouth fell open, then snapped shut. She smiled, snorted and shook her head before loping after him. He would win the race, for sure, but Reek hadn't figured out the terms beforehand. Winner gets jack shit, she thought with a smirk.

She finally arrived at the top of the rise. Ignoring Reek for a moment, the panting she-wolf swiveled to face outward. "Nice," she said admiringly, her tail flicking back and forth. She drank it all in for a moment, then turned to her homely companion and said, "Good to know I joined ranks with a filthy cheater." Junior swiped out a paw to playfully smack his shoulder.

Junior sprang sideways to avoid any counterattacks, then observed, "My sister did a good job picking out her digs." She blinked her two-toned eyes, then looked at Reek's face again. "So, what made you decide to follow Saena?" she wondered.

      Reek scrambled up the mountain as fast as his lanky legs could take him, looking back only to see Junior trailing behind him. His playful trick had put himself far in ahead of the she-wolf who chased behind, struggling to catch up.  The ragged wolf had reached the peak with seconds to spare. Upon arrival, he crashed into the dirt with a lazy thud and panted heavily with his tongue lolling out of the side of his mouth.  Fun was hard work.

      Junior arrived seconds later giving him a playful swipe of the paw.  Reek shot her a prideful grin.  Although he had cheated, he had still won.  "A wolf like me wouldn't get very far by playing fair fair," he mused while picking himself up from the dirt to stand beside the panting yearling who had jumped out of Reek's reach.  Filthy cheater carried such a negative connotation, however, she couldn't have been more spot on in her description. "I still won," chortled the ragged wolf, before giving her a slight nudge with his shoulder.

      The ragged wolf looked out over the territory once again, admiring the view from above.  Other than the hawks who circled above, it was the best view around.  "It certainly ain't bad,"  he replied, slightly awestruck.  Reek turned his head back to Junior, tearing his gaze away from the territory.  "Honestly, Saena sort of fell into my lap when I needed her most," he began to explain.  Reek was not a man of faith or fate, however, Saena's appearance on the Sunspire Mountains had been as close to a cosmological sign as possible.  "My friend, Wyn, and I had been living with a group that called themselves the Nereides.  Real nutty bunch they were.  Shit got real bad, and everything fell apart... almost cost me my leg.  Wyn and I didn't know where to go... until Saena found us and promised us a home."  Reek cracked a weak smile. "You've got a real good sister," he added with a friendly shoulder bump.  

Even as the question left her lips, Junior folded herself onto her haunches. She was still a bit spindly even as a yearling, with harsh angles to her build that contrasted Saena's soft, pale curves. Her scarred forelegs didn't help much in the looks department. Once upon a time, she had been self-conscious about these things. Right now, she sat up straight and took a deep breath, careless of her physical presence beyond the breath in her lungs. She had come to accept herself for who she was, inside and out, and it was pretty damn liberating.

Her eyes closed as she tuned in to Reek's story. She felt tranquil as she listened, at least until he said the word Nereides. Junior's eyes flew open and she looked sharply at the homely wolf, black ears tilting backward. Her two-toned eyes hardened. She then snorted and smiled wanly when Reek used the word nutty to describe them. She scuffed a paw in the dirt, remaining silent until he finished.

"I know of them, the Nereides," she told him. "What do you mean about your leg?" Junior wanted to know before her expression eased back into a smile. "I know."

     Her demeanor had changed definitively after Reek had mentioned the sirens.  Her stance hardened like a statue as she shot Reek a sharp glance.  The ragged wolf couldn't tell if she shared the same disdain for the Sirens that he held, or if that misplaced anger was directed at him for his statement on their crazy conduct, however her thin smile made him think otherwise.  Hopefully, Junior wasn't a subscriber to their odd beliefs.

    Reek shifted his position and sank to his haunches.  "Small fuckin world," he quipped with a sly smirk.  The ragged wolf didn't have the slightest idea how she knew the Nereides, perhaps she had run in with the wolves of Ankyra Sound. They did have the proclivity to be quite hostile.  "How d'you know them?" 

    "Before things went down hill, I was manipulated into fighting a war for them..."  Reek began, explaining his grievance with the sirens and his leg in one foul swoop.  "Had to fight this big fucker, swear he was twice my size— he grabbed my leg and pulled.  I thought it was gonna snap off, but thankfully the sinew kept it attached.  Wyn had to reset my shoulder back into place."

Junior didn't answer his question right away. She shook her head, indicating for him to continue. The Nereides had been involved in a war? Against who? She winced at the graphic imagery, her face puckering like someone had just stuffed a lemon in her mouth. She was so glad she'd left them behind when she had, else she might have been pulled into an otherwise peaceful region's war. Why on earth had they been fighting?

"I almost joined their ranks. I'm even gladder I didn't go through with it now," she muttered. "Who was the war with? What was it about?" she couldn't help but ask, morbidly curious about the strife she'd managed to avoid by being so fickle.

100th post!

     It seemed Junior's flighty nature allowed her to dodge the proverbial bullet.  If only Reek had ran out when he had the chance instead of trying to make things work with the sirens, a lot the problems he faced could have been avoided.  However, by running he wouldn't have had Wyn to accompany him when he left.  In a weird, twisted way,  Reek was glad things had turned out the way they did, war and all, as the end result didn't turn out so bad at all.

     "Lucky you," he continued with a playful nudge from his paw.  "We were fighting with Duskfire Glacier... and it was a goddamn bloodbath.   I didn't know this at the time, but, Caiaphas had stolen a pup from them and taken it in as her own.  The pup eventually went missing, and Caiaphas jumped to the conclusion that they had taken him back."  During his time in Ankyra Sound, Reek was told the bare minimum when it came to the war effort due to his status of being only a drudge.  The full reasoning behind war was held from him, and he was only told to fight. "Turned out she was wrong, they didn't have him, and we fought for no reason."    

The name of the opposing pack didn't register as familiar. But Caiaphas's name sure did. The yearling's ears flattened as Reek gave her the details of the wily female's treachery. It would have blown her mind to realize that the original Siren Queen had disappeared, with Caiaphas stepping up in her place. Reek didn't mention that part, so Junior assumed she was merely a regular siren.

"Caiaphas was always a slippery bitch," Junior mused darkly. "So what happened, exactly? What was the outcome of the war? Are Ankyra Sound and Duskfire Glacier still around? Still at odds?"

Congratulations! :D

Fade out soon?

      A slippery bitch. Well, that was one way to describe the feral looking Siren Queen, and Reek shared the same sentiment following her departure.  It was sad, he had once considered the unthrifty alpha a friend... in some sort of warped, twisted way.  However, the further Reek got from the sound, the more bitter he became toward his ex-leader, ending in his complete disapproval.

      "Mhm," nodded Reek in agreement.  "Fucking drove that place into the ground."  The ragged wolf had assumed Caiaphas had always held her position of queen of those wacky sirens, as Aktaie's relatively short tenure was unbeknownst to him.

      "Ain't no Ankyra Sound left," he continued as she inquired about the packs fates. "Dunno about Duskfire... although, I assume they fared just as bad.  There are no winners in war, only losers.  I don't think Caiaphas understood that, since she was throwing everything she had at them without weighing any cost.  Nevertheless, she understood by the end.  She walked out on us, leaving us leaderless and scrambling like chickens to keep things together.  Some bitch, eh?"  

"Shit," Junior mentioned when Reek's story came to a conclusion, complete with an epithet of his own. Her eyes were flinty. "Nothin' like a leader walking out on the pack that trusts them," she agreed in a slightly bitter tone. Before Reek could cotton onto the fact that she was making a personal statement, she shook her head and added, "I'm glad you got out of there alive."

With that, the conversation ceased and they embarked on a mutual and companionable silence as they continued to enjoy the view. Junior eventually slid forward into a sphinx-like position, content to just hang out for a while and soak in her new surroundings.

You can conclude it or ship it right to the archives. Thanks for the thread!