Welcome to Gaia! ::

Ikkume trotted along behind Whisper, judging her distance and directions by the sounds of her padding across the rock floor. He could almost feel her smiling, and it was very contagious. His maw cracked in an intoxicating grin. The excitement Whisper felt towards the pack finally becoming a pack was also finding its way inside Ikkume and welling up very quickly.

The sandy male couldn''t predict how he would fit in to this new group, or how a new group would fit in to him. His old pack still lingered in his memory and in his heart, and the thought of his old mate once again came forth unchecked. At first Ikkume bauked at the memory, but the worry was quickly replaced by a brief wash of sadness, and then a new hope. He could feel Allinei''s blessing and strength behind everything he did, and her kind eyes shone with happiness inside his mind with the prospect of Ikku moving forward and finding new wolves to love and protect.

Just then a small light broke through the layers of shadow and Ikku caught the silhouette of Whisper just infront of him. He smiled and romped up beside her, gave a nudge that hinted he wanted to play, and took off at a daring sprint through the unfamiliar cave towards the light.

Suzaku watched Whisper head off, no objections to the idea. She knew that if Whisper trusted this wolf then they had been invited already.

She only now began to calm down from her rush, but barely at that. She wanted to be here to greet the new-comer, she'd need to meet him sooner or later anyhow right?

So, it turned out that they hadn't really moved from where Whisper left them, Suzaku catching the quickly oncroaching scents through the air flowing out of the cave. She rose fully to her paws to greet the two, smiling.

Beside the other two Kouji's head also rose, looking in the direction of Whisper and Ikkume. He would search out a den on his own if need be, but didn't mind in the least bit waiting for Whisper to return. His ears perked at the new male, and found to his relief that his jealousy was only very mild. He was still adjusting to being just friends with Whisper, but he was happy that she had others she could be herself and feel comfortable around so it was worth it. Besides, he still cared deeply for the emerald omega, even if things might be akward from time to time.

His tail wagged a bit in greeting, giving a (re)welcoming bark to both Ikkume and Whisper.

Ikkume didn't pull forward when he saw Whisp coming up beside him, his ears twitched and his tongue lolled out of the corner of his mouth, but then nearly bit it as the femme took a quick turn right into him and caught his ear in her teeth. He reared back and pawed at her before bounding to the side and running around her, successfully putting it into high gear and beating her to the bottom of the hill where the rest of the wolves were gathered. He slowed to an abrupt stop infront of them all and gave a sheepish smile, "Uh, hello, how are you all? ^^;" He glanced back to see Whisper just behind him and grinned at her, then turned back to the others, regaining his composure, "My name's Ikkume, or you can call me Ikku."

He had followed her scent, out of curiosity, for a long time... or it seemed so, to him.

Though Whisper had invited him to join her pack, Duhkha still felt nervous about it all, and had been going slowly, to give himself time to think. With no other wolf around to interpret his actions, the brown and red wolf was not so nervous as usual... he even walked normally, ears forward and all.

He had been given reason to pause when he hit the area where the scents of several wolves mixed and floated like morning mist.. until he hit upon Whisper's. There. She was among these.. others... so it should be safe, right?

Right.

So, he pressed onward(though more slowly, and only jumped once at the sound of the howls) until he came to... a tunnel? How odd. But... it seemed to be the place everyone was going...

Once he was free of the cave, Duhkha was back to his normal nervous mannerisms. He was in pack territory now, and had to be careful to be close enough to the exit to leave, if necessary. Thus, not willing to leave the area until he had permission, the male raised his voice in a tentative howl, a question if he could stay or not. His voice, like him, was not too loud, but seemed to cut through the air just the same, letting itself be heard by those who were close enough.

Tsume too had caught Ikkume's scentand his muscles tensed immidiatly. He remembered the last encounter with the male, not very pleasant for either of them. He quickly shook the thoughts from his head though. Talia was talking to him.

"Hmm..." He took a closer look at the opening, sniffing cautiously. "Might as well take the plunge, no?" He asked amused.

After Ikkume had bore off Whisper's playful assults, both of them relaxing now, he sat and watched as more wolves gathered. He had to admit, this was growing increasingly exciting. It had been ages since the sandy male had been to a pack meeting, or since he'd been around so many wolves at once! His kind smile remained stretched over his lightly tanned maw, his tail thumping the ground in greeting to everyone as they each came closer to join him and the others waiting. He sniffed each one carefully, never getting close enough to be a threat or even a nuissance. Each new scent was filed away in his complex sorting system, under "packmates".

He noticed Suzaku's hesitation when she saw him, and Ikku flashed her a pleasant smile, tilting his head slightly to the side in a gentle inquiry. But even so, the femme's eyes seemed to soften their intensity and surprise, and she welcomed him and went about her business. Ikku took a moment to study her, curious about her now, but then went about assessing the most recent arrivals.

After the dark green male joined them, Ikku's nose rose to the air and pointed to the sky, nostrils flaring as the breeze brought to him the scents of those wolves still on their way. Even as he was just catching the scent of Talia and her mate, he heard her bark. Ikku barked/howled in a return greeting, letting her know where they were and that he was waiting to greet her. He had indeed noticed Tsume's scent alongside her, and his fur ruffled slightly at the memory of their past meeting. Nonetheless, the sandy male had high hopes that things would turn out for the better, and he certainly had no intention of joining this pack with Tsume if tension remained so unbearable. He would make it work, there was no sense in it not working.

Helaku was just as surprised as his adopted sister. This Ikkume wolf resembled Akamu so closely that at first the yellow male thought that his fur had just faded from being in the sun too long. Yet this one didn''t smell like his father, so he knew it wasn''t. It was impossible to alter one''s scent so much that it was unrecognizable, so he decided to not say anything.

So, being the silent shadow of Suzaku that he was, Laku continued to be as he was before, only dipping his head respectfully for the older male since he was obviously a good friend of Whisper''s. But this new wolf with the red on his paws was not very welcome in his eyes and he showed this by raising his hackles a little. Duhkha had shown up randomly and it seemed like none of the others knew this brown one... at least he thought no one did...

Suddenly smelling a new scent on the air, Whisper''s ears perked forward and she looked all around for where it was coming from. Looking to the others, she could tell that they were somewhat uncomfortable with this newcommer. Darn it! She should have told the other pack members that she had invited along a new friend that she had found in the freelands.

Looking to each one of the other wolves, the green femme said, "It''s alright, Duhkha is with me." Then with that she turned and trodded over to Duhkha. Nudging his neck fur with her nose as she always did with friends, she spoke softly to him, "Don''t worry.. since you were invited by me, you are fine. We are about to pick dens, so we can follow individual wolves so you can meet them one at a time." Hopefully he would like that.. right now he didn''t seem all that comfortable.

Yet when Ronan showed up, his fur flattened to its original place and he felt a little better. Plus, Whisper had said that she had invited this new one so he hoped that Duhkha was alright, though he looked a little skiddish and like he didn''t even want to be here.

(( Wewt. <3 ))

((-takes a stab in the dark, seeing as she's unsure of exactly how many and which wolves are around that area-))

Fute stirs as the overhead sunlight beams down onto his vivid pelt, his eyes opening slightly then squinting and immediately closing thereafter. "That sun is soooo bright." He rolls over onto his side and picks himself up, taking a moment to stretch and survey the surroundings with his sight. He'd grown over the time, and now was a full-fledged adolescent male. Even his personality had grew, despite remaining oh-so-loveable and good-natured. As he began to pad forward, a sudden parchment took over his throat. "I could use a bit of a drink after such a peaceful nap." He tilted his head upward, taking a whiff of the air. Sure enough, there was water close by.

Continuing onward, he finally arrived at the water not but two minutes later. "Great." A small crack of a smile surfaced at the corner of his maw as he trotted over, lowering his head towards the water upon arriving at its edge, taking in many a few good laps, the water soothing his thirst gingerly with each moment. Whenever he finally is content and his thirst now quinched, he turns and takes a few steps towards a nearby tree, hearing a rustling sound in the bushes just below it. Crouching low, his eyes begin to peer into the depths, hoping to catch a glimpse of what he hoped to turn out to be at least some sort of a snack.

Indeed, out popped a jack rabbit! And man was that fella on the move! "No way in howling FUR I'll be able to track down that rabbit whenever I'm still slightly droggy from my nap. Heh." His head averts back to the spot he'd seen the rabbit appear from and, to his surprise, there was a family of squirrels resting just before him. And squirrels were his favorite snack; what luck! He licked his chops then slashed a paw straight down onto the fortunately sleeping critters. He dug his teeth into the now torn and slashed fur of the squirrel, then took it over back by the water to chow down. The tough fur wasn't as pleasing as he'd remembered, but the inner meat was absolutely luscious to his taste buds.

After finishing his luck-stroke finding of a meal, the adolescent male stood back up, a thought now slipping into his mind. Whatever had happened to Whisper? Or Kouji? Rochir? Anybody? It was at that moment that he realized just how long he'd been apart from all those he held so dear within his heart; his friends, and not to mention his future packmates. Perhaps there had been more movement in the pack arrangements by now? There was so much he'd need to find out, and a reunion with his companions was long overdue. But wait - how was he to find them? His tail began to sway to and fro in deep concentration, when not but a few moments later an answer arrived. He could possibly howl for them! Perhaps they'd hear him, yes! And at just that second he sent out a howl, a call to all those that knew him and that he loved, in hopes they'd hear and respond. "C'mon guys, where are ya...." he muttered quickly, before waiting to see what would happen.