((Same disclaimer as Lunarie: I haven't written a word in 300 years, so y'all will just have to deal with this less than stellar post because I've got to post something to break the ice and shake the dust off.))
Rina didn't measure her life, her successes and failures, by the conventional means that others did.
But, from an outside perspective, not to put too fine a point on it, she was killing it: she spent her days doing what she loved, she was the leader of a tribe, she had a mate whom she loved very much and who supported her no matter what, and many of her descendants were in her tribe with her. Of course, many were not, and had their own wants and lives, which Rina fully respected.
Even if the tribe were no more than her, Freya, and a scattering of their children and grandchildren, Rina would be content.
Last night the tribe had arrived at a new destination, and now Rina was awake, watching the dawn break over the mountains, turning the stream that ran down them and through the valley golden with morning light.
“Good morning.” Caelia called out a greeting softly as she approached Rina, not quite willing to raise her voice so early in the day. Dealing with cranky foxes being rudely woken was not something she was planning on, thank you very much. She had already woken up one fox that morning, albeit by accident - Harlequinn, her mate - as she had tried to quietly slip away and leave his slumber undisturbed. It still felt strange, being in a serious relationship and having romantic feelings for another fox. Why, he was even willing to join her tribe! Harlequinn was bold and very open about how much he liked her, whereas she... Well, Caelia was bashful and unsure of how to handle things like this.
But those were thoughts for another time.
Coming to her side, Caelia smiled up at her... Elder? Step-mother? it was always a little confusing, trying to figure out what Rina was to her, especially with how mixed up the entire family was! There was her mother, Freya, of course. And then Rina, her Elder and step-mother. Then Cicero, her wandering “other mother,” she and her siblings had often joked. And then... the slew of half-siblings scattered across the land and within their tribe. Their family was......... a lot, to put it bluntly.
Regardless, she smiled at her mother’s mate, and after a moment of thought, gave a slight tilt of her head. “Would you like me to check on the rest of the tribe, to see how everyone is settling in? I don’t have much planned for the day myself, besides seeing if there are any new injuries that need tending to, so I thought I’d extend the offer.” She turned her attention to the landscape then, taking a moment to enjoy the view alongside Rina. She had to admit, the area they had chosen to rest in was beautiful. “I know you and mother have been a bit busy lately, with the group traveling and all.”
Anrea
Helpful kiddo #1! <3
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Posted: Fri Oct 22, 2021 3:55 pm
Known to be a deep sleeper, Florian was jostled with a rough nudge, then another. He woke up, finally, when he felt a sharp and sudden pain from one of his ears. “Ow! What the hell?” Florian was also known to be quite a friendly and bubbly fox... when he wasn’t being rudely awoken at the crack of dawn. He was not a morning person, at all. Rubbing sleep from his eyes and squinting angrily - well, as angry as a sleepy fox could look - Florian’s ear was given one last tug by his attacker: Rune, his brother, one of the triplets. “Seriously, what?”
“Up and at ‘em, lazy bones!” Releasing his brother’s ear, Rune flashed a grin. “Come on, don’t you want to go watch the sunrise?” Receiving a tired grunt in response and no movement on Florian’s part, Rune huffed. “We’re in a new place, there’s probably tons to explore. New sights to see and all that! Come ooon.”
“Nah, I’m good.” Florian, scrunching his nose at his brother, waved a paw to shoo him off before returning to his slumber, letting his arm gently drape across his muzzle to shield himself from the rest of the world. He was cozy, tired from traveling, and not going anywhere right now. It was too early.
“Fine, be that way.” Rune let out another huff, blowing some stray hair out of his face. “Just, like... make sure to tell mother and all them that I’m out gathering, will you?... Florian?... Florian.” He waited until he finally heard a soft grumble of acknowledgement, giving a roll of his eyes. Giving his glasses a quick adjustment, he gave his brother one last look before striding off on his own. To gather herbs and flowers? To go explore a bit? Hell, why not kill two birds with one stone and do both!
Juliette06
Rune: i'm gonna go explore and find herbs! also Rune: -finds a cute boy (Bordeaux) instead- i mean, i guess i technically gathered something... :X
Posted: Fri Oct 22, 2021 7:37 pm
If you had asked Bordeaux how he got to where he was, he would not have been able to tell you. Things just sort of--happened--to Bordy, and he just sort of let them, at this point. Julien, his brother, had always been the sensible one, the one with direction and ideas and goals. Bordeaux was less focused, and always had been.
But he wasn't stressed about it, at this point. It had been so long since he and Julien had wandered away from their cold, mountainous home and all of its heavy snow that Bordy barely remembered it - and he didn't mind that, either. He much preferred warmer climates, he'd learned, and so he'd been enjoying seeing as much of these warmer climates as he could. He mostly kept to himself, but he was an easy-going sort of fox, and in the rare instances where he ran into another fox, he usually found a friend, at least for a little while.
So he wasn't scared or nervous when the other fox appeared - mostly white, like him, but with purple paws instead of blue roses, and something funny and kind of reflective on his face. It wasn't like any tattoo he had ever seen, and it made him immensely curious.
"What is that?" Bordeaux asked, stumbling out of the tall grass he'd been meandering in until he spotted the fox. "On your face, I mean!"
Bordeaux didn't really have an internal sense of manners; his mother wasn't very polite, and while he wasn't nearly as tough as she was, he was pretty sure that it was her fault he'd never figured out how to speak to other foxes the right way.
Julien had tried, though, to hammer a few lessons through Bordy's brain, and one of them kicked over two minutes too late. "I mean...uh...hello!" Bordeaux greeted, a light flush rising to his cheeks - he hoped it wasn't visible through his fur. "My name is Bordeaux. Am I--I hope I'm not, um, trespassing?"
“Oh! Hello there.” Rune was less alarmed and more surprised at the fact that another fox had suddenly appeared, someone that didn’t belong to the tribe. Still, he couldn’t help but jump slightly, glasses going crooked at the sudden movement and fur bristling just a bit. Meeting a new face was the last thing he had expected this early in the morning!
Speaking of faces.
"On your face, I mean!"
On his face? Nervously smiling at the stranger, Rune considered the question - he was clean, always, with little to no dirt messing up his pristine fur. And he didn’t have any markings, tattoos, or modifications on his face, unless... Ah, his glasses, of course. “These are called glasses! At least, that’s what my mother told me when she gave them to me as a kid? Some foxes wear them because they help out with their vision, and others wear them just because they can.” Quick to recover, Rune’s fur settled and he collected himself, his usual confidence making a return. He sat down, using a paw to straighten his glasses, giving the stranger a little wink. “But me? I wear them because they look good on me.”
He wasn’t put off at all by the late introduction, tail giving a friendly wag as he learned the other’s name. Bordeaux, huh? That was a fancy name. Did he live around here? Judging by that question about trespassing, maybe not... “It’s nice to meet you. I’m Rune.” He looked back in the direction he had come from, towards the tribe, then turned his attention back to his new acquaintance. “Aaand as far as I know, nope! If you’re trespassing, then that might mean that I am too.” Rune gave a little laugh at that. “My tribe actually just arrived in these lands last night. We’re a group of wanderers and like to stay in new locations that our Elder picks out, like this one. We move from place to place as we please.” Tilting his head curiously, Rune decided to ask Bordeaux his own round of questions. “How ‘bout you? You from around here, or are you a fellow traveler?”
Éeamonn let out a soft grunt, working out limbs weary from travel with the slow, half-hearted efforts at stretching that any half-asleep fox will usually try to attempt. He was an early riser, but being on foot for so long, even when you belonged to a tribe of travelers? Man, that left you worn. out. This first day of rest and relaxation would be welcomed by Éeamonn and many other tribe members, that was certain. He basked in the morning light that had slowly begun to make its way over a majority of the still sleeping tribe, tail uncurling itself from around him as he enjoyed the new source of warmth overhead. His mother, Rina, was probably the first to rise, as she did most mornings, but what of the others?
Rather than stand up just yet, Éeamonn rolled onto his side. He would make his way to his mother’s side eventually, offering to lend a paw and assist her with whatever tasks she needed done that day, but for now, he could take a moment to just be. The fox relaxed in the morning sun as he quietly observed his surroundings: the new landscape, his dozing family members, other members of the tribe...
His eyes landed on Tay, one of his closest friends, and he quickly averted his gaze. In what was a rare moment for the normally calm, cool, and collected Éeamonn, the fox was clearly flustered.
Was Tay awake? Did she notice him looking? Did she know about his growing feelings for her?
“‘Deities help me...” He thought, trying to ignore the heat rapidly making its way across his face, warmth that was not caused by the sunlight.
Juliette06
Rune for you~
lisais-fire619
Aaand Éeamonn for you~
Posted: Sat Oct 30, 2021 9:32 pm
((It has been One Million Years since I've RPed here, so if I've gone and accidentally retconned anything, well, no I didn't :p ))
Rina turned her attention from the sunrise as someone approached: Caelia, one of Freya's children. Or, shouldn't that be one of her children as well, now that she and Freya were mates, even though they had not become mates until after Freya's children were grown?
None of Rina's oldest children had joined her in the tribe, and so there was still a part of her slightly unaccustomed to having family around, and even more so with having complicated family, such as her mate's children.
Having family around felt like settling down. Except, that wasn't right, because it didn't feel boring in the same way that staying in one place did. Rina filed away that thought to meditate on later as Caelia spoke.
"Good morning, Caelia," Rina greeted, voice smooth and clear as ever, sounding as though she had been awake for hours. It was possible she had been: she was often the first to rise.
At Caelia's words, Rina turned back from the sunrise to scan the area where the tribe had settled down for the night, but she could see no obvious sources of trouble. Good. She did what she could to ensure that everyone was cared for--well fed, well watered, injuries tended to--before settling down for the night in a new area.
But that did not guarantee that there were no smaller concerns, things that could have waited until morning, to be addressed. Rina had thought to check on the rest of the tribe this morning, see how everyone was settling in, as Caelia had proposed. But she also needed to hear reports from the scouts on any possible dangers from the area, and from the hunters about how plentiful game was, from the gatherers about the food, needed to ensure that the area they had picked to spend the night would be good accommodations for their stay... Yes, it would certainly be a help to her if she had less to worry about this day.
"Thank you Caelia," or should that be "thank you daughter", but no, Rina never addressed her children of her own blood that way either, "I need to meet with other members this morning, and that would be very helpful."
Had Freya raised this one? Or had it been the other mother? Whichever it had been had done a good job with her.
~Spazzy_the_Wolfie~
Good kiddo is good!
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Posted: Sat Oct 30, 2021 9:49 pm
Freya was an Elder, but she was not the Elder of the wandering tribe. As far as she knew, he ascent to Elderhood had been at some whim of the deities--none of them had ever deigned to tell her exactly why she ascended. Some days, she wondered if it had been the doing of the deity that Rina followed, a change Freya had undergone to pique the curiosity and interest of her now-mate. It was a happy story, and so one Freya liked to tell to herself.
Still, while she did not have the weight of official authority or leadership behind her--those were reserved for Rina, the tribe's true Elder, and also her mate--Freya had her own responsibilities: namely supporting her mate in her official leadership capabilities.
Some days her mate did not make such support easy though: Freya awoke as the first rays of dawn touched her face, to find that Rina was gone: surely already awake and attending to tribe business.
Freya allowed herself a few moments to yawn, stretch, and blink sleep from her eyes, before standing up. While she would love little more than to laze about for a few more minutes after all their hard days of traveling, she still had a duty to uphold.
She padded out from the shelter where she and Rina had spent the night, and quickly spotted her mate talking to Caelia. Freya approached, and, once she was sure she would not be intruding on the other two, spoke: "Good morning Elder, good morning daughter."
Outsiders might be surprised at how formally Freya greeted her own mate, but those of the tribe were surely accustomed to it, and to both of their focuses on tribe business before personal matters, an attitude formalized in greetings such as these.
Posted: Sat Oct 30, 2021 10:15 pm
The tribe had a hanger-on these days: after they had passed through the area where Aelius was staying, she had loudly declared her intent to see "what all the fuss is about" and had been following the tribe for the last few days.
Neither Rina nor Freya had stopped Aelius for coming along for the journey, and made minimal demands of her, asking only that she not take more than she could give back. But her half-sister's behavior was beginning to grate on Sommerly's nerves: while she couldn't deny that Aelius hadn't been completely unhelpful by scouting ahead and finding clear paths for the tribe to take, that was all: Aelius spent the rest of the day lazing around, taking naps in trees while waiting for the rest of the tribe to catch up, and eating more than her share of the food each evening.
But now the tribe had found a place to stop for a few days, and it was time for Aelius to finally start really helping out around here.
"Good morning, Aelius," Sommerly said, perfectly polite, "it's time to get up and get to work."
"Balls to that," Aelius said, rolling over and covering her face with a wing. "We've spent the past three days moving non stop, and now it's time to finally rest, and not get up at the a** crack of dawn."
Sommerly was calm, and mature, and did not let even a little bit of a growl out. "Everyone who is part of the tribe--or who is traveling with the tribe even temporarily--" she quickly amended before Aelius could protest, "needs to help contribute so the tribe can stay strong and productive. We don't have a homeland to rely on like other tribes: we can only rely on each other."
Aelius was cool, but she was also starting to lose hers a little bit. She did let out a quiet growl: "And I will help out. When it is not stupid o'clock in the morning."
Brayden liked wandering just as much as anyone in a Tribe based on wandering could, but she also liked it when they stopped wandering, sometimes. It was nice to stay in one place, if just for a little while, sometimes. She understood her mother's wanderlust, and Brayden knew that she herself was not the type to ever stay put for long, but...
Well, there wasn't anything wrong with staying put for a little while, right?
Right?
Right? That was what Brayden was thinking, when she heard her sisters start to argue. What was there to argue about at....? Brayden squinted at the sky. The sun was barely up yet, how on earth had they found something to disagree about already?
Brayden stood and shook herself, yawned, and let out a deep sigh. She followed the voices, growing more irritated by the moment, until she found the two of them - Aelius up in a tree, as was her wont, and Sommerly, firmly on the ground, as was her wont.
Sisters. Whoever had invented sisters had really known what they were doing, hadn't they?
"Sisters," Brayden greeted - she pointedly did not say 'good morning', because it had stopped being a good morning as soon as they'd woken her up. "What is the problem?" Brayden asked, because she didn't think Mother would approve of the more aggressive 'how can you be having problems already' question that she actually wanted to ask.
Brayden looked from Aelius to Sommerly, the latter of whom she raised her eyebrows at. "Is there something you need our sister to do, Sommerly?"
Somehow, Brayden doubted that Sommerly had anything specific in mind - Aelius had been hovering on the edge of the Tribe recently, and Brayden didn't need to be Sommer's near-twin to know that it had been bothering her. Brayden understood the irritation; Sommerly liked things to be what they were, or what they were not, and Aelius was...well, not yet willing to fit so neatly into the 'tribe member' or 'visitor' boxes.
Brayden wasn't surprised - none of their mother's children fit, in one way or another, and Aelius was their sister, even if she had one different parent, and as Rina's daughter, Aelius had as much right to be there as Sommerly did, or she herself. When their mother felt it necessary, she would be the one to impose a limit on Aelius - ask her to become a member, or ask her to leave. That was why Mother was the Elder of the Tribe, after all: she made those decisions. Not Mama Freya, not Brayden, and definitely not Sommerly.
...All the same, Brayden could admit to herself, privately, that whenever Rina did ask, she was a little bit curious about whether Aelius would continue to deign them with her presence. She was curious about a lot of things when it came to Aelius, but there hadn't been much opportunity to satisfy her curiosity - at least...not yet.
Anrea
sister numero three says pls SHH
Posted: Sat Oct 30, 2021 11:08 pm
Man, this was exciting. Harlequinn had never been part of a Tribe - he'd never really even be part of a family, if he was being honest, including his own, which he felt kind of bad about. That was maybe part of the reason he was so excited to join Caelia's Tribe - maybe in all of their wandering, he'd come across his kids. Or at least one of them, maybe? He'd been a bad dad, he knew that, but maybe he'd get a chance to make it right.
...Maybe...he'd get a chance to make up for it, too, with Caelia. It was different, with her - different than it had been with anybody he'd ever met before. She was smart and beautiful and kind and quiet and sweet, and Harle never got over it. She was just - like, wow. Wow. He was so lucky that someone like her was willing to put up with him. With just little old him! Man, he was so lucky. So he woke with a smile on his face, like he always did, when he woke up next to--hey, wait. Where was Caelia? His smile quickly dissipated as he stood up and looked around for her.
"Caeli?" Harlequinn whispered, not wanting to wake the other foxes. Why, it must have been Caelia getting up that had woken him, come to think of it, and that meant she couldn't have gotten far, right?
Harlequinn pouted all the same; being part of a wandering Tribe was one thing, but he didn't like it when his lady love got up and wandered away from him.
So he set off in search of her, and fortunately didn't have far to go before he found her, but she was talking to her mom--or, wait, no, not her mom, but her mom's mate. One of her moms' mates.
Jeeze. Caeli's family was confusing sometimes, but Harle didn't care. He'd decided the best course of action was to stick clear of all of the moms...at least until Caeli told him he should do otherwise.
So he waited for the white wandering Elder to stand and begin to walk away before he trotted up to Caelia and greeted her with a smile, all angst or annoyance at having woken up alone forgotten.
"Hi," Harlequinn greeted, his voice a low whisper in spite of himself - it just felt right, like he didn't want to call too much attention to himself, or speak too loudly in the early dawn light. "How'd you sleep, Miss Caeli? Everything okay?"
“Of course. I’ll come back around and let you know of my findings by, say... sunset? If there ends up being anything dire that needs immediate attention, I’ll send one of the scouts your way.” With a single nod, Caelia began to leave Rina’s side, but not before addressing Freya as she made her appearance. “Mother! Good morning.” Unlike with Rina, there was no hesitation when it came to speaking or approaching Freya, Caelia perfectly comfortable around her. “Hey, seriously, spend some time together.” Caelia suggested in a hushed tone, bold as she brushed by Freya. A sly smile found its way across her lips as she left the two alone.
And quickly found herself with Harlequinn. “Oh! Hey. I, um... I mean, hi.” That moment of boldness, all of that cool composure? Yeah, that was totally gone, replaced now with surprise as she was caught off guard by her mate. She didn’t expect to see him so soon.
His appearance was unexpected, but... not unwanted.
“I slept just fine. I take it you slept well too, mister? You were fast asleep earlier, barely moved a muscle when I left.” Caelia dipped her head under his chin, giving him a brief nuzzle in greeting. “No need to worry, everything’s fine. I got up early to check in with mo- Elder Rina,” She caught herself, stifling a soft laugh, “to see if she needed any help today.” Enjoying the impromptu moment they had alone together, she gently bumped her nose against his. “So... I’ll be running around today, checking on all of the tribe members. A second set of eyes for the Elder, in a way. Do you want to tag along?” Caelia glanced back at her mothers, then to Harlequinn, fighting the urge to grin with her next comment. “Or... were you planning on having a chat with them?” She was fully aware of how intimidating it could be, having not one, but two Elders as parents, and she couldn’t resist teasing others with this fact from time to time. Harlequinn especially, though she did it with all of the affection in the world.
((...Poor Caeli girl gets exactly one moment of peace this morning before she gets to deal with The Rina Freya Spawn Showdown of the Century lmfao. I LOVE IT.))
Anrea
Juliette06
Posted: Sun Oct 31, 2021 1:31 am
OH, COME ON.
Florian, the deep sleeper that he was, could not ignore the sounds of squabbling coming from nearby. Back and forth, back and forth. This early in the morning, the chatter was loud, and the noise traveled all the way over to his poor ears, refusing to let him slip back into pleasant, peaceful slumber. He had fallen asleep all but five minutes after Rune had left, the world cozy and comfortable and quiet and perfect before the arguing had begun.
And then another voice joined them.
“...Ugh.” Muzzle scrunching as he bared his teeth, Florian rubbed at his face with his front paws before letting out an irritated growl. How were people even able to function at this hour? He rose from his spot, grumbling as he made his way over to the source of the noise.
Ah, there. Siblings. His siblings. Why did he have so many noisy siblings? At least Rune was nice enough to go be noisy somewhere else, with some encouragement. He would have to bump him to the top of his “Most Okay Siblings” list.
"What is the problem?"
“Yeah, what is the problem?” Florian chimed in, making himself known as he moved to Brayden’s side. He looked at his half-sister, confusion on his face before he realized that the back and forth didn’t directly involve her. Oh, no. Not her at all. Upon closer inspection, it appeared to be Aelius and Sommerly, discussing... something. Who knows what. “Seriously, do you guys know how early it is? Foxes are tryin’ to sleep around here. Foxes being, y’know, me. What gives?” He made his displeasure known with a little stomp of his paw and a scowl, though he refused to raise his voice, keeping his tone hushed. “The only valid excuse for being so loud this early in the damn morning is if someone died. So, who died? One of the siblings? Another tribe member? Who?” He shot a glare at both Aelius and Sommerly as he hissed out the ridiculous string of questions, Brayden spared from his contempt. For now.
((sibling chaos, sibling chaos, sIBLING CHAOS
Your daily reminder that Florian’s mood 99% of the time is “jovial.” GOOD JOB TEAM, WE BROKE HIM, WE CRACKED THE CODE.))
Anrea
Juliette06
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Posted: Sun Oct 31, 2021 10:26 am
"Brayden," Sommerly said, greeting her sister, very definitely not with a slight whine in her voice. "Aelius won't get up and help us. You know the rules: everyone has to pull their weight!"
Before Sommerly could continue, Aelius retorted: "And I will get up and help out, once the sun is actually up," she huffed. Great, now there were two of them getting after her about this (nevermind that there actually weren't, that Brayden was being reasonable: Aelius was tired, and cranky, and wasn't in the mood to be fair). Maybe she should just go and leave: she wasn't part of this tribe, and she didn't have any obligation to it: she could pack up and leave whenever she wanted, and maybe she would do just that.
Ignoring Aelius retort, Sommerly turned back to Brayden. "She should help out with the scouting. With her wings she can go a lot further and see a lot more than any of the rest of us. She could be a valuable asset to the tribe if she just get up."
Aelius groaned as yet another of her siblings approached: giving up on getting back to sleep, she rolled out of her tree to land in an ungraceful heap on the ground. She folded one wing over her eyes, trying to block out the uncomfortably bright daylight. "Sommerly is about to die if she doesn't let me get back to sleep in peace. It is too early to be up, and all of you are nuts for being awake this early."
((SIBLING CHAOS SIBLING CHAOS! Sometimes you gotta throw in a little chaos for ~seasoning~))
Juliette06
[quote="~Spazzy_the_Wolfie~"
Posted: Sun Oct 31, 2021 10:44 am
Freya smiled at Caelia as she passed. "Good morning, Caelia." Her smile grew as her daughter went off to talk to Harlequinn, and nuzzled him in greeting. It made her happy to see her daughter happy together with him.
Freya took advantage of their brief moment of alone time to nuzzle her mate as well. Business before pleasure, yes, and there was so much to get done to get the tribe set up in this area for the next while, but: well, there was nothing wrong with stealing a moment either, and she was rewarded with Rina nuzzling her back.
But then it was time to get back to business: "What do we need to do first today, Elder?"
Rina thought through the list: Caelia was checking on the rest of the tribe, making sure no one had any urgent problems. Next after that, both of equal importance, would be securing food and safety.
"We need to talk to the hunters and gatherers to ensure there is enough food in this area to support us, and to the scouts to ensure that there are no hidden dangers for the tribe."
Freya knew Rina well enough to know when she was being offered a chance to offer input: "The gatherers first, then."
Rina nodded, and they both went to find the gatherers.
((Which is, uh, I think just Rune at the moment? If any tribe member wants to volunteer to be an assistant gatherer (or just talk to these two about a different topic) feel free!))
May yawned she had just crawled her way out of rest and was still half functioning. She had been coming to greet the other members of the tribe when she overheard Freya and Rina talking. She would rather be interested in curling up with her mate sleeping but the idea of being able to surprise her mate with some food in the morning made her giggle inside even if her body was still half asleep. “I’d be happy to help gather or carry.” She answered when the call for gathers went out. “You’d have to have the normal gatherer show me what to take or carry for them though.” She looked at the elder vixen’s. May knew she wasn't much of a scout in her current condition and hunting was not great either but sh would gladly help with the things that didn’t tend to run away or try and kill you all the time.
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