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 Posted: Wed Jun 23, 2010 6:25 am
Knowing there was another pair of eyes was the first big thing - she could sleep soundly, rest totally and in a comfortable den to boot. Having others to hunt with, too, made bigger kills, more food, much easier. With good food and good sleep, her body had been able to regenerate and her grim survival had become a new lust for life.
The blue wolf was pretty simple - she had been given food, shelter and, beyond just physical bounds, a home. These wolves had been kind to her and none, yet, had said a bad word to her about her looks. Iphis had found her place in the world and she damn well wasn't going to let anyone take it away from her. She had absorbed the mantras of her sisters - males needed to be subjugated? Sure, once she'd found out what the word meant. She'd never held any real hatred for males, but she was happy to be told how things were - it saved her having to worry about them.
One dogged step after the other she paced her rounds, trying to increase her one, big weakness - long distance stamina. Sure, she was great in close quarters and she could probably take down a bison in a headbuttin' contest, but only if she could catch it...
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Posted: Wed Jun 23, 2010 6:52 am
 Since Pen had broken the news of her impending Pups Achilles had made an effort to stick around a bit more then normal. Typically he wandered around on the edge of the pack lands, watching the others go about their business and making appearances from time to time just to ensure everyone knew Pen's consort hadn't skipped out on them once pups had been achieved.
But he rarely interacted with them - he was far to proud of a creature to put up with being ordered about as the weak slaves were and frankly they seemed to enjoy it so why infringe on their safe little lives? Best to just leave them to it, Iosef seemed to have them all in hand and Achilles was more then fine with letting the patchy wolf handle the slaves - even if that was technically supposed to be his duty. Achilles wasn't lazy - but he simply couldn't fathom wasting his time telling wolves to run about and clean dens or deal with spider nests. Weaklings.
But he was willing to put up being seen as a lesser wolf - he knew he wasn't - and the dirty looks some of the sisters threw at him in order to bed a queen and sire future royalty. Who would pas that up? No one with the raging desire for fame that he had that was for sure. But it seemed his quiet life on the edge was being invaded today for in his wandering the mottled beast spotted a flash of blue.
At first he thought it might be the youth Glacier, but upon closer inspection he saw it was a female with sandy colored paws. Lovely to look at really, though he would never say so. That wouldn't keep him from saying something else however and finding some amusement in unsettling the sisters whenever he got the chance Achilles picked himself up from the sun dappled ground and out from beneath the shade tree he'd been resting under. "Your wandering a far bit out from the main pack today"
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Posted: Wed Jun 23, 2010 11:31 am
Iphis stopped up short as a male voice, a rather confidant one at that, called out at her approach. She hadn't seen him, at first - his mottled coat blending in well in the shady patches of the undergrowth - but even when she did she wasn't sure she recognised him. She hadn't been here that long and she had been concentrating more on learning who her new sisters were rather than getting to know the males but something about him seemed familiar.
She came to a rest, panting, and a little glad for the excuse to stop - it was warm, and even her summer coat wasn't cool enough during such vigorous exercise. It took her a few moment more before she recognised the Queen's consort. No wonder she hadn't seen him much, given the attitude the sisters had towards him, and didn't he just look like they said with his easy confidence and lack of slave-like deference?
In her old pack, Iphis would be the one paying deference to this male, probably, as the father of the alphas pups, even if he had not been titled alpha himself and she had always been one to bow to greater authority. It was hard to overcome her conditioning but, then, Iphis had never minced words.
"Aye, well, and what are you doin' out here yersel, eh?" she managed, in a gruff voice.
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Posted: Wed Jun 23, 2010 12:46 pm
 The lynx stalked forward looking for any flicker of green movement within the brush. She had been hot on the trail of that little bugger Azalea when she ducked into some thick bushes and lost sight of the pup. Cursed green pelt, she thought as her eyes swept back and forth. Cleite could smell her but just couldn't quite find her just yet. Likely the pup was hightailing it back to her mother by now, but Cleite knew that in the end she would find her and drag her to the Queen.
Speaking of the Queen , the lynx lifted her head as she head a males voice drifting in through the trees. Her consort, she would recognize that voice anywhere...and another female. It wasn't Penthesilea for the Queen was resting at her den. This needed to be checked out, so she crept forward slowly, silently, trying to get a good look at who Achilles was talking to. When she finally spotte the blue pelt Cleite recognized it as one of the newer sisters, but if didn't explain why she was out here alone with the Queens consort. So she crouched down to sit and watch and listen, ready to take any information back to the Queen as needed.
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Posted: Thu Jun 24, 2010 7:18 am
Achilles quirked his lips slightly, by her gruff tone he supposed she had expected him to bow down to her, perhaps tuck his tail and offer to run about doing her errands like the other slaves did. Achilles did not mind doing work when it was called for - but he was not keen on the whole tail tucking,head ducking sort of thing. Likely this wolf would run home and tattle on him to Pen however - try to garner herself some sort of status in the pack by befriending his feathered queen.
Achilles was not pleased by the thought of being this blue wolves stepping stool to greatness and with a yawn flopped down on the ground again - sure it was a tad bit insolent, but it was hot and his head was now lower then hers which should suffice with the whole subjugation thing they insisted on. Whatever. "I am always out here" He told her truthfully "Pen does not believe my presence would be tolerated well within the main pack commons for long" He admitted - and truthfully he was just fine with that - it made him sort of chuckle being the object of such dissent.
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Posted: Fri Jun 25, 2010 10:27 am
Iphis and politics didn't mix - she had no more wish than to stay now where she was, do what was asked of her, and not get into trouble. Her mouth did that often enough for her not to try anything as complex as vying for favouritism or going out of her way to do something extra - she just wasn't ambitious enough, either.
Still not entirely at one with the pack's 'rules' for males, Iphis didn't really notice Achilles studied contempt - it was way to subtle for her way of thinking. His words, though, gave her a moments pause. She had known the other female didn't like him much, and there had seemed to be an undercurrent of something going on regarding him, but she had just kept her head down and done her duties, mostly ignoring it all. She didn't really understand why anyone would deny an alpha whatever mate they chose, afterall.
"Aye, well, ye better get used tae me comin' by then, if yer gonna laze about under a tree like that. I'm oot here doin' something useful" her tone suggested that he might well do something useful too, if he was going to be out here.
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Posted: Fri Jun 25, 2010 9:57 pm
Well so far the conversation was just that, two pack members discussing not much. But Cleite knew that things could change quickly in situations like that. So she remained in her hiding place a good distance from the pair, but certainly close enough to clearly hear anything they said. Sometimes it wasn't what was said, but how it was said that could change everything. Cleite didn't entirely trust Achilles, but she would not argue with Penthesilea about her choice of consorts for clearly he had so far done his job well as indicated by the Queens ever growing stomach. As long as an heir came from this pairing then all would be well within the pack. However, if the all male curse affected the Queen's litter there may be a lot more attention surrounding her chosen consort than there currently was. Giving her head a slight shake Cleite cleared those thoughts so to better concentrate on the task on hand.
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Posted: Tue Jun 29, 2010 11:11 am
"I've already done my useful bit I think" He told her, recalling Penthesilea's quickly growing belly. This one didn't seem like she fully grasped her place in the pack, or at least she wasn't trying to boss him about, a tract some of the others had tried and mostly failed at. Achilles didn't mind pulling his fair share - but he wouldn't let them run roughshod over him either. As far as he was concerned Pen was the only one he truly had to please - and given how he and Pen had meet most of the others wouldn't dare trying to get the better of him physically either. He'd fought their queen to a mutual standstill and most of them knew it.
"But...If I might ask, what exactly are you doing?" He asked her with some faint curiosity, once he'd deduced that she wasn't outwardly going to order him around he was far more willing to be polite - and he did wonder what a sister was doing huffing and puffing about on the boarder like she was.
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Posted: Wed Jun 30, 2010 8:25 am
She didn't ask about his first words - what he had been told to do was none of her business, same as orders given to her would have been none of his, but she did wonder a little. She wasn't overly curious, but she did wonder, a little, about why he was allowed to laze about out here even if the others weren't fond of him. If he'd been given some job to do and done it, then it seemed less odd that he might be allowed a rest.
"None o' your business" was her typically snappish reply to his other question, though. It wasn't anything to do with the Antianeira values, simply that she was used to being a little standoffish. Every time she'd been put down, every time she'd been mocked, it had grown that little curl of resentment inside her which was only now, slowly, beginning to unfurl.
Still, this male hadn't mocked her - in fact he'd been relatively nice, compared to most other males she'd talked to and he had asked politely so she harrumphed and continued. "If ye must know I'm trainin'". Iphis wasn't the chatty type, either, but she was enjoying having others around her. Her comfort, surrounded by the other pack wolves, was beginning to show in terms of pushing back her natural reaction to be curt.
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Posted: Wed Jun 30, 2010 10:06 am
 Azalea had been quite proud of herself for giving Cleite the slip. Stupid lynx was gonna try to get her in trouble, though she wasn't sure exactly how or why. Once again she felt horribly blessed to have her green pelt as it hid her well within the under brush. Although it didn't take her long to realize that Cleite had given up the chase, and that was quite uncharacteristic of the lynx. Azalea was torn between feeding her curiosity as to why Cleite was no longer chasing her and getting as far away from possible in case she changed her mind.
Finally she gave in and backtracked to find the spot where Cleite had lost sight of her. Of course as she got close to that spot there was the faint sound of voices that trickled into her ears. This made her even more curious so she went to investigate. But as she got closer she spotted Cleite crouched down int he bushes watching the pair, who as she glanced in their direction, who just happened to be the Queens new consort and some other new recruit. Running towards Cleite Azalea suddenly yelled out. "What you doing hiding there?" And then before Cleite could stop her dashed out of the trees to where Achilles and Iphis were. Making sure to get on the opposite side of the pair that Cleite was.Her quiet spying had been going well, though so far there was nothing of significance to report back to the queen. It was just two wolves from the same pack talking. Nothing incriminating there. A soft rustling came in the bushes nearby, and while Cleite looked towards the direction of the sound she kept her ears pointed towards the pair. The sudden burst of movement of green and red coupled with that annoying voice made Cleite instantly growl. That blasted whelp had destroyed her hiding spot. "Azalea!" She yelled and then ran after the pup into the clearing, only to come to a stop near the pair. "Iphis, Achilles." She greeted the pair but her eyes were locked on the green pup.
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Posted: Tue Jul 06, 2010 9:27 am
Training indeed - the sisters seemed to do allot of that though he had yet to see any enemies for them to fight. Still he supposed there were worse things they could be doing and it kept most of them busy enough that avoiding them was easy so he wasn't going to complain. "Swimming is good for that" He offered - though he doubted she would take advice from a male, even one such as he - whom he considered the epitome of male perfection in the wolven species.
He might have gone on to say more when a shout boomed across the area, Achilles found himself on his feet even before he remembered making the movement, hackled raised as he searched for the possible danger such a shout could mean. What he saw instead was the green puffball of Azalea...always a troublemaker, and a snooty one at that and Pens pale colored Lynx. SPying on him no doubt. He gave the Lynx a withering look as she stopped before them. "Babysitting?" He asked her in a tone which clearly indicated he thought that unlikely.
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Posted: Wed Jul 07, 2010 7:08 am
"Swimming? Ah'v never been much of a fa..." her words were cut short as a small green and purple ball of fur ran across her path, shouting and bawling. "Whit the..." her sandy yellow eyes tried to take in the scene as, after the pup arrived, a lynx did.
For a split-second, she thought that the pup was being chased by the lynx and her hackles raised, lips twitching into a slight snarl. She was never the sharpest, but her instincts were on a razor's edge after years of living alone, worrying about who or what might come after her at a moments notice. When the lynx spoke, though, she realised it was the 'pet' of the alphess. She had seen the lynx around, a little, but she wasn't especially fond of the cats and hadn't really associated with her much except when the alphess sent messages with her.
Iphis nodded a greeting, though. It wasn't good not to be at least notionally friendly. That was part of being in a pack and the lynx, for all she wasn't a wolf, was a part of her pack. She didn't like the idea that the lynx might have been spying on them, though, as the pups words seemed to suggest. It made her feel a little... untrusted.
She turned her attention now to the pup. She hadn't been around them much, in her time alone, and had never had any of her own to look after. She remembered the feeling of sadness which had come over her when all of her age-mates had mated and had birthed pups and she was still alone - that was when she'd started thinking of herself as the dire wolf, inside. the strong, mighty, proud beast did not need a mate or pups to look after, she was a strong hunter and warrior, not a mother. It was a good way, for her, to cope.
"You're Azalea?" she asked, though it was more of a statement. She might not be bright, but her memory was decent and she was sure she'd heard the young blue male call this pup that... though she was also sure she'd heard him slur it slightly when he didn't think anyone was near...
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Posted: Thu Jul 29, 2010 9:07 am
Glancing between Achilles and Iphis the green pup made sure to stay in a position so that one of the wolves was in the line between her and Cleite. Right now Achilles provided her with that shield of protection. Of course when Iphis addressed her so plainly Azalea couldn't help but scoff and correct her. "That's Princess Azalea to you warrior." Sitting up a bit higher as she said that. And so far there was no one to challenge her for that title, even with Pen having acquired a consort, that didn't guarantee that she would have any female pups. And if she did, well then Azalea would challenge them for the position and surely win based upon her size and age alone. Then everyone would need to treat her with the proper respect for once, including that blasted slave Glacier.
Cleite resisted the urge to growl at Achilles. Pompous a**, just because he was the Queen's consort he thought he could get away with everything. Well Penthesilea may be a bit lax on him right now, but she would put him in his place soon enough. "Babysitting, I think not." She told the male annoyingly. "I am merely trying to bring the pup to the Queen for her punishment. It seems her mother and her have been plotting some things behind her back." She eyes narrowed as she looked at Azalea as if to silently say 'oh yes, we know about that' but remained quiet about it for now. Of course she didn't want to say anything else, but when Azalea corrected Iphis with what she thought was her rightful title Cleite had no choice but to step in. "You are not the princess of this pack whelp and likely never will be. Penthesilea will never name you as her heir."
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Posted: Thu Jul 29, 2010 10:28 am
Oh lovely! Achilles inwardly laughed at how wondrously intriguing this was all panning out to be, certainly a step up from his formerly dull afternoon of napping. Perhaps even a step up from his conversation with the new blue female - of course any chance to torment Pen's blasted cat was welcome and having achieved this Achilles lowered his head just a touch in order to appease her though the lack of a tucked tail pretty much left it up in the air as to his sincerity. But that was the point, mixed signals were ever so much fun when dealing with control freaks.
Speaking of which he tipped his head slightly at the blue warrior as the small pup gave her self imposed title and clicked his tongue slightly at the pup in dismay. "Seem's a touch unfair to punish a pup for her mother's meddling" He offered in a quiet voice, as though he was speaking more to himself then to any of the others. "Then again.." He spoke a bit louder "She is a presumptuous little thing" He concluded leveling his gaze on the small green creature before turning back to the blue.
"But then it's your call now isn't it...being the only female...adult..wolf here at the moment. Shall she get away with her remarks?" He asked of Iphis with an innocent look on his face though he had stressed each word enough to make sure they were all ruled out of this deciding factor. He certainly couldn't handle the pups punishment for he was but a mere male..and Cleite while Pen's pet was still not a wolf and the pup herself was well..just a pup. Time to make a call Iphis! Wasn't it wonderful being in the spotlight?
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Posted: Thu Aug 12, 2010 12:29 am
Iphis did not like being put in the middle of something like this and she felt her hackles trying to rise. Stifling them as best she could, she shot a dark look at the male, beginning to see why the other females didn't like to have the bugger around.
As for the little one... well, it didn't bother her too much that she was a little precocious. Pups could be like that, right? She hadn't seen this one with her mother, but she was pretty sure Pen had none of her own yet - so 'princess' didn't seem right. Plotting? Punishment? Argh. Politics.
If there hadn't been another around she'd have likely let the pup's remarks slide and gone about her business but between the lynx and the male.. ugh. Shaking her head, she realised it was a simple matter. Whether she thought of herself as a princess of not, the pup was still a pup and she knew for sure that the lynx was Pen's right-hand-cat and if she spoke truly then the queen's words certainly outranked the child's.
She felt a little sorry at sending a pup to 'punishment' but, at the end of the day, if it was true then she must have been up to something - she wouldn't be punished if it had all been her mother, would she? Iphis didn't imagine Pen was that unfair. Turning away from the male in her attempt at a rebuff, she regarded the lynx "D'you want a hand gettin' her back to the queen, or you think ye can herd her by yersel'?"
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