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 Posted: Thu Jul 26, 2007 5:36 pm
(( I'll set this a day or so before the current big pack events just so Calli can be free to do this ^^; ))
The air was almost dripping with moisture but at least it was cooler now than it had been earlier. The day's sweltering heat had been replaced with evening cool and a soft, fur ruffling breeze which Calliope found rather pleasant. A storm will come soon, she thought. Air like this - so thick, damp - always seemed to precede the kind of storm that lit up the sky. The caramel and chocolate female had plenty time to ponder the weather as she padded through the pack territory. She was on guard duty. She, an alpha, might not have deigned to do such a chore but their numbers were still small and Calliope was realistic. With so many young, too, it was hard to get enough to patrol without exhausting one of them. No, she'd take her turn like everyone else.
Whilst she wandered she kept her eyes and ears tuned for any sign of Aoede. Her wayward daughter seemed, as usual, to be trying to skip out on any work to be done and Calliope was not best pleased with her. With all that had been going on recently she didn't like the thought of the youngster being out there on her own.
Her plodding steps came to a halt, though, when she thought she caught sigh of something... or someone nearby. She was upwind, though, and couldn't be sure if it was maybe just a shadow or some forest creature she had seen.
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Posted: Thu Jul 26, 2007 5:51 pm
After his last encounter with the large blue female, the old wolf just couldn't find it in him to turn back around and go to the rabbit hole he had called home his entire life. He had tried to stand up for himself but in the end all she had to do was growl at him and he had run like a scared pup. Jagger knew she would have killed him if he put up a fight and he knew his body had seen much better days. He was getting old and living a lone life was finally starting to take a large toll on his body.
Jagger didn't even know where he was going. All he did was walk, stopping only to drink and to sleep. He had been too tired to hunt, his bones screamed at him every time he started to run. The gray and tan fur hung on his skeletal frame and around his muzzle was beginning to turn gray - a clear sign of his age.
His head and tail stayed low as he continued to walk through the brush without any real destination. The old male knew that if he was going to survive... he would finally need a pack kind enough to take him in. While he could still help hunt, he no longer held the stamina he once did and his old bones just weren't build like they used to be.
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Posted: Thu Jul 26, 2007 6:06 pm
Was that... yes! It was another wolf! Calliope's senses were all alert - ears up, eyes fastened to the spot she had seen the other and body rigid lest she be seen before she could decide what to do. Quickly thoughts ran through her mind - was this Helios, the one who had been the cause of so many troubles recently? No, she could see it wasn't even in this low light. Helios had been described to her as golden in colour... and large, almost as big as Oura... This male didn't seem to fit that profile. She could tell it was definately a male now - slowly she had shifted down past and around him so she could catch his scent and see him better. Almost like stalking prey she had silently moved closer hoping beyond hope he would not catch sight of her.
Now that she was closer she could see the male was not exactly... normal. The conservative female was a little fussy on what she considered normal and the stripe tailed male set her senses tingling. He was mostly grey though, and prehaps a light reddish brown - odd markings were a lesser 'crime' than odd colours in her book. He didn't seem a threat like those others has been, not mad. In fact the longer she looked the more... worn he seemed to become. He was no young invader that was certain.
After what seemed an age she decided to herself that if he was alone - and he seemed to be - then she was not in a great dal of danger. In fact she was beginning to feel rather aggrieved that she had been made to feel uncomfortable in her own homelands by him. She ectricated herself from the foliage and, trying her best to look dignified whilst clothed in leaves and mud, moved toward the male. "Who are you? What are you doing in this territory?" she demanded.
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Posted: Thu Jul 26, 2007 6:18 pm
The alphess was able to sneak up on him with grace. The only movement Jagger made that wasn't his moving paws with a slight rise of his head and a tired perk of his ears. Though as she made herself known he jumped back with little energy, his tail tucking between his legs as orange eyes stared up at her.
The old male looked little better than the dirty Calliope, covered in dried mud and leaves, sticks stuck in his fur in places from sleeping in the dirt and grime for nights on end. For a moment he looked dumbfounded up at her before finally realizing that he needed to speak. Last time he had opened his mouth had been weeks upon weeks ago when the large blue female had scared him out of his home.
"I uh..." He began, voice cracking from disuse. Jagger cleared his throat and let his ears fall back against his skull in submission. "My names Jagger. I'm-" He stopped, the words in his mind too embarrassing and demeaning to say aloud. So he lied at first. "I'm just passing through."
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Posted: Thu Jul 26, 2007 6:47 pm
Calliope studied Jagger a little more closely now that she was closer. He really didn't seem much of a threat at all now - in fact her grenadiose posturing seemed a little overblown. Still, she had been worried with good reason - too many wolves seemed to pass through this way and some of them had been causing trouble. Better safe than sorry really.
She was doubly mollified, though, by his slightly submissive posturing. She was a wolf who believed greatly that manners towards other wolves - higher or lower in the pecking order - helped greatly towards pack stability. This gave him a little more favour in her eyes and her tone became less frosty as she spoke. She didn't offer an apology, though. "You'll have a hard time passing through here" she said, with a little smile "this valley leads to a dead end." It was true - the wide valley opening came to a point near the main den - a good defensive barrier for the small pack but also, perhaps, a funnel for wayward wolves who were 'passing through'.
He really was rather skinny, she realised now. Passing lones could be dangerous but this male didn't seem like he could hurt a fly... Desperate wolves could be trouble though - best not treat him as totally harmless yet she thought. "We've not exactly had the best of times with strangers recently." she said, slowly, not giving anything away and trying to guage this stranger with his oddly striped tail a little better. What kind of wolves had tails like raccoons anyway?
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Posted: Thu Jul 26, 2007 8:17 pm
Dead end? Orange eyes looked up at her with a vague shock, then disappointment. His ears lowered. Just his luck, wasn't it? If he was going to try and get into a pack, it would be this one or nothing - he would likely die out somewhere in the wilderness alone.
At her words he gave his own smirk and a laugh. "Neither have I." Jagger looked up at her, meeting her gaze with his own. "I lied to you." He admitted, keeping the stare so she could see that he was telling the truth. "I'm not passing through... I guess you could say I'm running away." He looked back down. Running away, that would really help get you into a pack wouldn't it?
After a moment he heaved a sigh. It was now or never. The old male looked back up at the powerful female and began. "I've lived very far away from here my entire life on my own in a tiny rabbit hole. Ever since I was a pup I lived there. Up until now, hell, EVEN now I've been too frightened to join a pack. Lets face it, even when I was younger I wasn't the best hunter, or the best a female could have." He smirked, thinking about Inca.
"But I'm getting old and the lands are getting more crowded. I'm not as young or as strong as I used to be." His eyes were staying on her now as he told her his tale. "Many, many days ago a large blue female walked through and threatened me. I knew she would kill me if I didn't comply or if I tried to fight... so I ran."
"I've been running for days, stopping only to sleep and drink what I can find. After I ran away from the only home I knew because I couldn't even protect and guard that anymore, I finally realized something..." He paused, trying to judge her expression. "I'm too old to keep living the life I have been... and as much as it scares me, I've realized I need a pack." Jagger stood there, looking up at her with a weary head and old, tired eyes.
He left it at that and waited for what she had to say.
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Posted: Fri Jul 27, 2007 3:21 am
Calliope paused a long moment, digesting this information. This was certainly not what she had expected - not an intruder but a supplicant to the pack. She herself had spent some time alone - several seasons only - enough to understand the lonliness. Sometimes she had felt then that it would be best to stay on her own, had not wanted to join another pack then. She had imagined the restrictions, the politics, the anguish that had caused her to leave her last and wanted nothing to do with it ever again. When Zagreus had come into her life along with Ouranos a small nucelus had begun, though, a new pack formed and Calliope had felt once more that packs were worthwhile.
That he had been attatcked by a blue wolf only confirmed her general view on such wolves. She sympathised greatly, wondering if it was the same sky-blue wolf who had once stolen her kill. Not that there were a shortage of wolves around here. The situation he had come from, overall, worked to give the large female a great deal of sympathy towards the male despite his slightly odd markings. If he had been bullied by them then perhaps he was not amongst them. He certainly seemed calm - not insane or ready to attack like so many of those sky-and-grass wolves.
But thinking well of him didn't mean she'd invite him back to her home just because she asked so. She was a worrier, always, and worried for her pack, her young, she and Zagreus' lands. He wasn't a good hunter by his own admission, was old and on the skinny side. Whilst she decided what to do she quizzed him further.
"A blue wolf... brute.." she sighed, shaking her head "so you say you're no great hunter, could not guard your own home, you're no young hare but you wish to join with a pack... what would you bring to one, then?" she raised an eyebrow. It wasn't a serious matter, really, she thought as she waited for a reply. Afterall this pack had been made on adopting all - pups and adults alike who had not always come from the best of circumstances. She might, though, get a better idea of his mind, his personality from his reply. She could also have time to makeup her mind on how to deal with him.
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Posted: Fri Jul 27, 2007 7:44 am
Ah, the question that he had been fearing. Jagger bit at the inside of his lip nervously and thought. After a moment his ears perked and he gaze the alphess and wry smile. "I'm good with pups." His scrawny tail wagged a few times before falling still behind him once more. "Never had any of my own, but I recall a number of small ones coming along through where I stayed a number of times. I fed them and let them sleep in my den as long as they wanted."
Hopefully appealing to the little ones would get him a place to stay. There was little else he could do aside from babysit and guard the den. And by "guard" he meant calling out to the others and then either running off with the pups to a safe place, or staying and sacrificing his life for them. When you got older, letting yourself die for someone who had a whole life ahead of them didn't seem to bad.
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Posted: Fri Jul 27, 2007 5:57 pm
She smiled a little, perhaps more mollified at this answer than many other alphas might have been. She was a mother, afterall, and knew the value of having someone looking after the pups - an older wolf doing so meant younger, fitter ones being able to help hunt. That he made no grandiose claims or overstated his use warmed her to him further - he certainly wasn't trying to 'trick' her into seeing him as fit for a pack. She liked honesty.
Much of what she thought, though, did not show on the outside except from that first, small smile. Her demeanour amongst those she did not know was always wary and that wouldn't change suddenly now. Instead she nodded birefly as if satisfied with the answer. She considered that, for the moment, there were few young in the pack - her own ups were nearly grown as had Ouranos' two. It had also been a while since the big, fawny male had brought the last puppyish waif into their small pack. She wasn't entirely sure, though, that the pack would be puppyless for long.
It was perhaps that thought, the instinct of a mother, which caused her to answer as she did now. "Well, Jagger, we have no young ones in our pack at the moment but... we have not been unknown to suddenly gain young charges from nowhere." she didn't explain that one further for the moment. "As I said we've had trouble recently and I can't say we wouldn't be happy to have another pair of eyes and ears amongst us." she eyed him now. He hadn't exactly explicitly asked to come into their particular pack but that had seemed the undertone of his words. "If you wish to join with us then I would not say no. So long as you are willing to do your part then we will not turn you away for now."
She left the lingering 'for now' to let him understand she hadn't accepted him completely yet. She could not. Only time would tell if he'd prove to be loyal to them or to only his own interests. She wondered what her mate would think if she did turn up with a strange wolf at her side. If he decided to come, that was.
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Posted: Fri Jul 27, 2007 6:26 pm
Jagger nodded soberly. "Understandable." He knew what it was like when some unknown wolf trespassed into your home and the distrust you felt when you first met them. The old male knew he would have to pull his own weight and gain the trust of the others in order to be properly accepted. "But... thank you." He looked up at her with orange eyes, meeting her gaze. The look on his old, graying features was genuine gratitude.
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Posted: Sun Jul 29, 2007 5:36 am
Now that Calliope had decided she liked him, she also decided his slightly odd patterning was quirky and 'hardly noticable... almost normal really'. She could be quite the hyporite internally though it certainly wasn't something she was conscious of thinking. She had never taken the time to get to know any of the more brightly coloured wolves, allow her category of what was and wasn't 'right' to change concerning them but each step towards the more unusual was perhaps more of a step towards acceptance of all.
That aside, she had just gained a new pack member who, if her recent suspicions about her conditions were correct, could come in very handy soon. She was almost abashed at his gratitude as she was more used to being in the company of those who knew her too well and did not need to ask for anything so important. She let another small smile slip out and then nodded almost imperceptibly. She would never be as good a judge of character as Zagreus, she felt, but she didn't worry about bringing this one back to the main den. In fact - if she did not the others might come after him as she had thinking he was one of Helios' crew.
"I'll take you back to the others - let them know who you are so there aren't any... misunderstandings about who you are." she nodded slightly in the direction of that place, further into the forest.
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Posted: Sun Jul 29, 2007 9:33 am
Jagger nodded and followed behind her, making sure to stay enough of a distance to her side so that she could see where he was out of the corner of her eye at all times. He knew what being around a strange wolf was like and wasn't going to take any unneeded gambles with her trust.
"Right." The old male nodded his head, a relived smile on his graying features. "And... is there anything I need to know about your pack? Any rules?" He questioned. "Excuse my ignorance but like I said, never been in a pack before." A tired laugh escaped his maw.
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Posted: Sun Jul 29, 2007 10:17 am
Calliope's eyes did indeed stay on the male wolf - but more out of habit and so she could speak to him rather than at. She pondered his question as her paws crunched into the slightly over-dry brush. It wasn't so bad near the water but out here near the edges the fact that all of the water was in the air and not in the ground was apparent.
"I can't say we have any hard and fast rules..." she thought aloud, almost surprised herself that they hadn't laid any out. Things had just fallen into place, really. However, she supposed that most of them at least had grown up and around packs and had some idea of the general manners needed to survive within them. There are really only courtesies" she paused, claws clicking now against stones and pebbles as they got closer to the water, wondering how to explain better what she meant. "If you do your bit, help others where you can then it will be fine."
"I'm sorry I can't explain better." she smiled a little sheepishly, feeling rather young for the moment.
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Posted: Sun Jul 29, 2007 10:32 am
Jagger blinked, having expected the exact opposite of a pack. He wondered how large it was or how long it had been running. Was this strong female the alpha? She certainly held her as such, but he didn't make any unsafe assumptions aloud.
"No, thats fine." He smiled, tail giving one quick wag. For the most part the stripped appendage seemed to just dangle behind him, as if the batteries had been worn out. "That's actually rather comforting. I thought that being in a pack would be strict and that I'd be shoved into a rank and set to do tasks the moment I was accepted."
The oddly-patterned wolf smirked. "A lot less pressure. I'm not sure if I could keep up with you younger wolves now." It was rather easy to feel young around Jagger. He looked, smelled, talked, and moved like his age. He felt no need to hide his wear and knew that he wasn't a spry young wolf anymore. There was no denying that.
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Posted: Sun Jul 29, 2007 10:58 am
"Hah" she said, understanding perhaps all too well what might have given that impression. "Some are like that, where position is more important than working together..." the dark brown female looked directly at Jagger now, sincere as she added "we are not like that." She was trying to say a lot in those few words - she wasn't a very chatty female and didn't have a gift for sentimental wording but she did have conviction that her pack, even with its troubles, was better than others where friendship was seen as less than prestige.
As she thought this she began to think how lately she had gotten a little distant from some of them... How long had it been since she had spoken to Ouranos, for example, or Persephone. Perhaps she should take her own advice and come down from the pedestal and allow more of them to share her worries instead of bottling them up. With a brief snort and a smile she began to move on again. "You'll not be forced into anything you don't want to do though there may be things you'll be asked you'd rather not." she shrugged as if to say 'but that's how life is'.
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